Background check for ammo purchases? It’s the latest gun-control proposal.
Background check for ammo purchases? It's the latest gun-control proposal.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal plans to introduce legislation to require instant background checks for purchasers of gun ammunition.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, based in Newtown, did not return a call for comment late Tuesday afternoon. The National Rifle Association also did not respond to a request for comment.
Blumenthal said he has discussed the proposal with Vice President Joe Biden and others on the task force that President Barack Obama set up under Biden’s supervision to study the issue of gun violence. Blumenthal said he views this as one part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce firearms-related deaths.
While there have been noted failures in the background-check system, he pointed out that of the 100 million background checks that have been done in the past 10 years, some 700,000 purchases were blocked.
Blumenthal said it shows that less than one percent of the checks resulted in a “no” but the ones that did kept guns out of the hands of felons, those with mental illness, domestic abusers, drug addicts and others disqualified under federal law.
Blumenthal’s proposal would require ammunition sellers to keep records so they could potentially help police solve gun crimes.
It would also require dealers to report purchases or thefts of more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Such record-keeping was previously required, before being abolished in 1986.
The bill would also ban Teflon-coated bullets and incendiary ammunition, both of which can defeat body armor of the kind worn by law enforcement.
He said anyone with a hunter’s license or a pistol permit that requires a background check would not have to go through an additional one.
Blumenthal stressed that many other things must be done as part of a comprehensive response: A ban on assault weapons, prohibition of high-capacity magazines, closing the gun-show loophole, strengthening gaps in the federal background check database, and better treatment, diagnosis, and intervention in mental-health cases.
Blumenthal said he has discussed the ammunition issue with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has asked Blumenthal to co-sponsor an assault-weapons ban with her. He also said Vice President Biden was “very encouraging” to him.
“He knows my background in this area as an attorney general (of Connecticut) and he has said he wants me to be involved in this issue,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal said he expects to introduce the legislation toward the end of January, and that in the meantime, he is seeking co-sponsors.