Sen. Susan Collins on Tuesday staked out a middle ground in the nation’s firearm debate, offering a compromise designed to prevent suspected terrorists from being able to purchase firearms.
Collins assembled a measure that represents the best hope in a long time for any forward movement in the firearm debate — and especially in the midst of an election year in a Republican-dominated Congress. The measure deserves a vote in the Senate, and it deserves to pass.
But the reality that such a narrowly tailored restriction on firearm purchases represents the best hope for change speaks volumes about how little most members of Congress are willing to do to put a meaningful check on the proliferation of firearms in this country.
Collins’ measure would allow the U.S. attorney general to block firearm sales to those who appear on two lists maintained as part of the federal Terrorist Screening Database — the “No Fly” list and the “Selectee” list, which subjects people on it to additional airport security screening. According to Collins’ office, those two lists include 2,700 Americans.
Those who believe they’re on those lists mistakenly could appeal their purchase prohibition in court under the Collins amendment, and the burden of proof would be on the attorney general. Under Collins’ proposal, the FBI would also receive notification if someone who has appeared in the Terrorist Screening Database at any point over the past five years bought a gun.
Four Democrats, three Republicans and independent Maine Sen. Angus King joined Collins at a news conference Tuesday to speak in support of the measure.
The amendment cuts down the center of two proposals effectively defeated in the Senate on Monday night. One of those proposals, sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, would allow the attorney general to block gun purchases if she had a “reasonable belief” the purchaser would engage in terrorism. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, proposed allowing a three-day delay on a gun purchase by anyone who has been investigated for terrorist activity in the past five years while a court reviews the sale.
Collins’ measure offers the last hope that the Senate will take some action on firearms after repeated mass shootings that have failed to mobilize Congress to act. It also highlights how much more must be done.
Collins’ proposal, for one, depends on the nation’s existing setup for background checks. Those checks would apply only when someone on the No Fly or Selectee lists tried to purchase a gun at a federally licensed firearms dealer. If that same person purchased a gun privately, no background check requirement would apply, limiting the legislation’s effectiveness.
Polls show that 90 percent of the public and nearly as many gun owners support universal background checks. Clearly, members of Congress are not representing the will of their constituents on this issue. (Collins has supported past attempts to extend background checks to more gun sales but opposed a universal background check proposal offered by Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy on Monday, citing its requirement that gun owners report lost or stolen weapons to law enforcement or face charges. King supported the Murphy amendment.)
As senators from both parties unite around Collins’ proposal, there’s no chance right now that Congress will get behind any measure designed to ban large-capacity magazine weapons such as the Sig Sauer MCX that Omar Mateen used to kill 49 people at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. The gun can fire 24 shots in nine seconds, maximizing carnage.
As The Boston Globe editorial board noted recently, a mass killer’s “motives are many, but their opportunity is limited only by their gun and ammunition magazine brand preference.”
An assault weapons ban enjoys widespread public support.
Firearm deaths are nearly as common as motor vehicle deaths in the U.S. For now, though, we can’t expect much from a Congress that hasn’t been motivated to act by 92 gun deaths per day. But Collins is offering a path forward that, we hope, will build the momentum needed for more significant changes.
