The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a measure requiring federal background checks for all firearms sales and transfers, the first major gun control legislation considered by the US Congress in nearly 25 years.
Democrats called the 240-190 vote a major step to end the gun lobby’s grip on Washington.
The bill is the first of two the House was to vote on this week. The other bill would extend the review period for background checks from three to 10 days.
Both bills face dim prospects in the US Senate and veto threats from US President Donald Trump, who said they would impose unreasonable conditions on gun owners.
Eight Republicans joined 232 Democrats to support the bill, while only two Democrats voted against it.
The White House said in a veto message that the background-checks bill could block someone from borrowing a firearm for self-defense or allowing a neighbor to take care of a gun while traveling.
The bill includes exceptions allowing temporary transfers to prevent imminent harm or for use at a target range.
The bill would close loopholes to ensure that checks are extended to private and online sales that often go undetected, Democrats said.
“People who are felons or are dangerously mentally ill shouldn’t have guns,” regardless of whether they buy them from a federally licensed dealer or their next-door neighbor, said US Representative Mike Thompson, a key sponsor who has pushed for expanded background checks since the 2012 killing of 20 elementary school students in Connecticut.
“For six-and-a-half years, we had no cooperation from the past majority” in the House, Thompson said. “We couldn’t get a hearing on the bill. We couldn’t get a vote. Today, we’re here to tell you it’s a new day. With this [Democratic] majority, we have made a commitment to address the issue of gun violence.”
While Republicans mostly opposed the bill, the party scored a procedural victory when the House accepted a Republican amendment requiring that gun sellers notify the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency when an illegal immigrant tries to buy a gun.
Twenty-six Democrats joined with Republicans to support the amendment, offered by US Representative Doug Collins.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi downplayed the Republican proposal, saying: “We won a big victory — get the message.”
Pelosi called the House vote “historic” and hailed the bill as “a long-overdue, commonsense action to end the epidemic of gun violence in America.”
To demonstrate her support for the bill, Pelosi wore an orange dress, while other Democrats wore orange ties or scarves, the color used by the movement against gun violence.
US Representative Madeleine Dean said that she hoped the symbolism would soon become obsolete.
“I long for the day when orange scarves are a fashion statement, not a cry for help,” said Dean, who was wearing a bright orange scarf.
House minority whip Steve Scalise, a Republican, who was gravely wounded in a 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice, said that stricter background checks would not have prevented his shooting or other tragedies.
“What it would do is make criminals out of law-abiding citizens,” Scalise said. “If you go hunting with a friend and your friend wants to borrow your rifle, you better bring your attorney with you, because depending on what you do with that gun, you may be a felon if you loan it to him.”
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