The White House is considering a phone application for background checks as part of gun control proposals



[ad_1]

The proposed application would be used for background checks using private sales, not for purchases involving resellers, one of the sources told CNN. The Washington Post first published a report on the application.
White House assistants spent last month meeting with congressional staff and developing a package of legislation following the recent mass shootings. The Department of Justice has also prepared a set of options that was delivered to the White House more than two weeks ago.

During the meeting, officials did not go into details of the legislation and Trump did not seem to be interested in the details of how each proposal would work, said the familiar.

Trump, who was pressured by Republican lawmakers to clarify his position, emerged from the meeting, refusing to spell out his stance on strengthening background checks.

In addition, the source told CNN that the lack of precision raised doubts. Trump would support a two-party measure on the thorough background checks of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, or a modified version of it.

Verification of Facts: Could a President, Beto O. Rourke, Confiscate Assault Weapons?

Trump initially seemed willing to expand his background checks after two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and in Dayton, Ohio, last month, but backed down by pressure from the National Rifle Association.

In high-level conversations between the Justice Department and Capitol Hill on Friday night, Attorney General Bill Barr announced that the talks were halting and that the prospects of presidential support for Extending background checks seemed to fade as the week drew closer. nearby, a person in charge of conversations told CNN.

According to the official, Michael Williams, a deputy chairman who previously worked for the NRA, would have ended or delayed any progress on such a bill, despite the support of Barr and the daughter of the president and counselor of the White House, Ivanka Trump.

Officials are still waiting for a plan to be released next week.

At present, there is no background check mandated by the federal government for private sales.

Firearms and privacy advocates have already raised concerns about an application such as the one proposed, claiming that it could become a de facto registry and worry about information security.

Here are some of the options proposed in the discussions, in addition to the measures proposed by Trump and his collaborators:

  • Allow juvenile records to be included in background check databases
  • Alert local authorities in case of failure of a background check
  • Apply heavier penalties for straw purchases when someone buys a gun to another
  • Institute a ban on firearm purchases for people on terrorism watch lists
  • Increased penalty for people who lie on background check forms
  • Assist States to implement "red flag" laws that would remove weapons from those deemed to be in danger
  • Add additional government records to an existing background verification database
  • Improve mental health services
  • Acceleration of the death penalty for convicted mass shooters

Jeff Zeleny from CNN contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link