Senators compromise on background checks for guns

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Conservative senators from both parties announced their support for expanding background checks for gun buyers Wednesday, giving a burst of momentum to advocates of stronger restrictions. But big questions remain about whether President Barack Obama can push significant gun controls through Congress.

The compromise between Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., boosted the chances that the Senate will agree to broaden required background checks, a step gun- control groups laud as an effective way to keep weapons from criminals and the mentally ill. The senators are among the most conservative members of their parties; both have received “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association, and their endorsements could make it easier for hesitant colleagues to back the effort.

Gun-control advocates still face opposition from many Republican senators and resistance from moderate Democrats, including several facing re-election next year in GOP-leaning states. In the Republican-run House, leaders have shown little enthusiasm for Obama’s ideas, making that chamber an even higher hurdle.

Under the agreement the two senators announced at the Capitol, background checks would be expanded to all for-profit transactions including sales at gun shows and online, with records kept by licensed gun-dealers who would handle the paperwork. Exempted would be noncommercial transactions such as between relatives. Currently, the system applies only to sales by the country’s 55,000 federally licensed firearms dealers.

The agreement also contains provisions expanding firearms rights, and that concerns gun-control supporters.