Flurry of Gun Control Bills Pass Across US as Everytown Delights in ‘Winning’ Against Gun Lobby

Guns - third leading cause of death among USA children - 1300 per year

© Rick Wilking / Reuters

Gun control advocates are celebrating a slew of legislation passed across the country. Domestic abusers are targeted in new bills passed by five states, while other states have enhanced their background checks for purchasing firearms.

Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Tennessee and Utah all passed new restrictions on firearms for domestic abusers, according to Everytown for Gun Safety group, which is funded by billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Overall, 23 states have enhanced the laws around domestic abusers since 2013, says the gun control advocacy group.

"When you look at what's happening in statehouses across the country, the gun safety movement is winning in state after state — even in this challenging political environment — because volunteers and gun violence survivors have become the counterweight to the gun lobby," said Shannon Watts, who founded Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown.

Hawaii, Tennessee and Washington state passed new laws requiring that police be notified when anyone who fails to pass a background check tries to buy a gun.

Many of these measures were passed with the support of Republican lawmakers and governors, even though the party itself has promised to roll back restrictions on guns and not to allow new ones, points out Everytown.

Gun regulation advocates claimed victory and a loss for the gun lobby, noting that attempts to repeal background checks in Iowa and Nebraska failed, while 17 of 18 states rejected bills to allow guns in schools and 14 of 16 states rejected bills to allow guns on college campuses.

Additionally, 20 of 22 states didn’t pass bills that would have eliminated requirements for permits to carry guns, a top priority for the National Rifle Association, Everytown wrote in its new “report card.”

The new gun regulations could be challenged in front of the Supreme Court, but in the past nine years, SCOTUS has avoided most Second Amendment cases, including those challenging state and local restrictions.

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects the right to “keep and bear arms.”

Meanwhile, statistics of gun violence in the country are grim.

Last month, a study found that shootings in the US kill nearly 1,300 children every year, making it the third leading cause of mortality among children after accidents and congenital disease, the study said.

Obama Executive Action to Expand Background Checks on Gun Sales

Here we go!

President Barack Obama said Monday he will use his legal authority to issue executive actions to close loopholes in the country’s gun laws.

Obama said he will move forward on requiring background checks for guns purchased from dealers, whether bought online or at gun shows.

Earlier in the day Obama said from the White House that gun violence has taken a heartbreaking toll on too many communities across the country, with “more than 100,000 people…killed [over the past decade] as a result of gun violence.”

Obama said many of the crimes “were committed by people who never should have been able to purchase a gun in the first place.”

The FBI will overhaul its background check system as a result of the executive orders and hire 230 more examiners to process the checks, offering the service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The administration is also proposing a new $500 million investment to increase access to mental health care.

Under the executive actions, the Social Security Administration will report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System on beneficiaries who are prohibited from possessing a firearm for mental health reasons.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services will remove the unnecessary legal barriers preventing states from reporting information about people prohibited from possessing a gun for mental health reasons.

The president also directed the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security to conduct or sponsor research into gun safety technology.

I fully expect the NRA to go ballistic and attempt to flex their considerable muscles. I sincerely hope Christians will tell the NRA to back-off. This is the very least that should be done to address the absurd number of shooting deaths in the US - more than 30 per day since 2006. 

Christians should support it for if they don't they will have to give their reasons for not doing so when they stand before Jesus Christ.