Steve Stockman is working diligently to make it easier for criminals to get guns.
Republican Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas has a two-pronged effort under way to block the Manchin-Toomey compromise on gun purchase background checks. The
compromise announced Wednesday would extend background checks now carried out on all gun transactions handled by licensed firearms dealers to private sales at gun shows, over the internet or advertised in any medium.
Stockman previously said he would block gun legislation introduced in the Senate before the spring recess by "blue slipping" it. Such resolutions (named after the color of paper they are printed on after passage) can be introduced when the Senate originates a revenue bill, something the Constitution reserves to the House.
Stockman claims the legislation would impose a tax because it mandates that gun buyers would have to pay for background checks. On Wednesday, he reiterated his opposition, saying that the compromise announced by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, which proposes a narrower version of the background-check expansion included in the original gun legislation, would still violate the origination clause.
Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is calling the background-check legislation "unworkable." But he might vote with Stockman if he were a representative instead of a senator:
"The proposal will impose new taxes and unreasonable burdens on law-abiding citizens," said Coburn. In the rest of his statement, Coburn singled out the private sales, saying that people will simply skip gun shows and sell their arms in other places.
“A government takeover of gun shows will open more loopholes than it closes," Coburn said. "Instead of paying a gun show tax, gun owners will simply handle those transactions elsewhere. The Manchin-Toomey proposal, unfortunately, trades a workable way to improve access the NICS database [the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System] for a system that is not workable and will be extremely difficult to pass Congress and become law.
In addition to the blue-slip proposal, which must wait until the Senate legislation passes—if it does—Stockman and Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia sent a letter to colleagues earlier this month urging them to co-sign a letter to Speaker John Boehner asking that he not bring up any gun legislation that is not supported by a majority of the Republican members of the House of Representatives. Getting such a majority before proceeding with legislation follows the so-called Hastert Rule. But Boehner has violated that at least four times recently, and he has vowed to "review" for consideration in the House any gun regulations the Senate passes.
Please continue reading about Stockman's plans below the fold.
The Stockman-Broun letter, which has garnered 40 co-signers so far, states, among other things:
The so-called “universal background check” system would be a violation of Constitutionally-guaranteed rights on an unprecedented scale. The principle that no person can purchase or sell a firearm without first receiving government permission transforms the Second Amendment from a “right” that should be protected by the government into a privilege granted by the government.
That "universal background check" language refers to what is currently in the bill, a provision sponsored by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York that would cover all private gun sales. The Manchin-Toomey compromise slated as the first item for debate would replace Schumer's stricter approach.
At least one Republican congressman, however, Peter King of New York, supports passing an expanded background check law. Not just the Manchin-Toomey proposal, but something more inclusive. He plans to introduce a background-check law in the House together with Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson of California.
"My goal would be to get the strongest background check bill we can," King said.
If only there were about 30 more House Republicans who agreed with him.