Source: United States Senator for Pennsylvania Pat Toomey
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) released the following statement in support of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
“This bipartisan gun safety bill protects the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens while taking steps to make our communities safer. It will strengthen background checks, provide federal assistance for state crisis intervention programs, enhance penalties for trafficking and straw purchasing firearms, and invest in school safety and mental health. This represents significant progress in keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill. I commend my colleagues who have worked tirelessly on this compromise, and I am encouraging all senators to support.”
This bipartisan gun safety legislation includes provisions to:
Improve the NICS examination of juvenile records
– Allow for an extended background check process for buyers under 21 years of age
– NICS to contact states for juvenile criminal history & mental health adjudication records
Clarify when an individual is “Engaged in the Business” of selling firearms such that they must run background checks before sales
Strengthen the penalty for illegal straw purchases
Crack down on gun trafficking by creating an explicit federal prohibition on the transport or shipment of firearms if there is reasonable cause to believe the recipient cannot have them
Ensure that the current prohibition on firearm possession for those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence applies to serious dating partners
Expand Byrne Grants to allow states to use these grants to implement state crisis intervention programs, such as mental health, drug, and/or veterans courts, and extreme risk protection order laws that include due process protections