House passes second gun control bill, extending amount of time buyer must wait to get license

The Democrat-controlled House on Thursday afternoon passed the second of two gun-control measure, extending the review period for background checks by roughly one week.

The bipartisan bill, which passed 219-210, would extend the review period for background checks from three to 10 days.

Democratic South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn introduced the so-called "Charleston loophole" legislation.

In 2015, a shooter killed nine people at a Charleston, S.C., church. The FBI said afterward that a background check examiner never saw the shooter’s previous arrest report because the wrong arresting agency was listed in state criminal history records, and the gun dealer was legally permitted to complete the transaction after three days, according to the Associated Press.

Two House Republicans voted in favor of the measure.

The first bill, which passed 227-203 on Thursday morning, is designed to close loopholes to ensure background checks are extended to private and online sales that often go undetected, including at gun shows. The legislation includes limited exceptions allowing temporary transfers to prevent imminent harm, for use at a target range and for gifts from family, among others, the wire service also reports.

Eight House Republicans voted in support of that measure. Neither measure is expected to pass in the evenly divided, 100-member Senate. 

Similar bills were passed by the House in 2019, after Democrats won the majority. But they languished in the GOP-controlled Senate for the next two years.

The renewed push is the latest effort by Democrats – and some Republicans – who have repeatedly tried, and failed, to pass tougher gun control laws since the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six educators.

The bill are also part of congressional Democrats' efforts to move on several major legislative priorities while they hold both chambers of Congress and the White House, also according to the Associated Press.

 They have the decisive vote in the Senate on measures that require a simple majority for passage because Vice President Kamala Harris holds the tie-breaker.