The House voted 227-203 Thursday to pass a bill that would require background checks for all gun purchasers. Within hours, the chamber voted 219-210 on a second background check bill to close the “Charleston loophole,” which allowed Dylann Roof to buy a firearm used to kill nine people at a Black church in 2015.
Why it matters: Overhauling the nation’s gun control laws is a priority for Democrats and the Biden administration, but the bill is unlikely to pass the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, where Republicans oppose attempts to curtail gun rights.
Details: The first bill (H.R. 8) became the first gun control legislation considered by Congress in nearly 25 years after it was first passed by the House in 2019, following a wave of youth-led activism in the wake of the Parkland shooting. It was never taken up by the GOP-controlled Senate. Continue reading.