Harry Reid: Senate Gun Bill Will Have Universal Background Checks

by S.H. Blannelberry Guns.com

Recently by S.H. Blannelberry: 5 Reasons Why the Assault Weapons Ban Is NOT Dead Yet

In what might be music to the ears of those who support tougher gun laws, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on Thursday that universal background checks will be included as part of the baseline gun control bill that the Senate will debate next month.

“Later tonight, I will start the process of bringing a bill to reduce gun violence to the Senate floor,” Reid said in a statement. “This bill will include the provisions on background checks, school safety and gun trafficking reported by the Judiciary Committee.u201D

u201CI hope negotiations will continue over the upcoming break to reach a bipartisan compromise on background checks, and I am hopeful that they will succeed,u201D Reid continued, referencing the ongoing feud between Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) over a negotiating point of the UBC provision, i.e. the call for strict record keeping and a national registry of law-abiding gun owners.

u201CIf a compromise is reached, I am open to including it in the base bill,u201D said Reid, adding u201CBut I want to be clear: in order to be effective, any bill that passes the Senate must include background checks.”

This announcement comes just days after Reid irked many gun control advocates by saying he would omit Sen. Dianne Feinstein's ban on military style u2018assault' weapons from the baseline bill, and would instead relegate the AWB to an amendatory vote.

Now, though, gun control advocates have to be pleased to know that the UBC bill, the bread and butter of their effort to reform the nation's gun laws, will anchor the Senate bill.

“The bill I advance tonight will serve as the basis for opening debate. Once debate begins, I will ensure that a ban on assault weapons, limits to high-capacity magazines, and mental health provisions receive votes, along with other amendments,” said Reid. “In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for all of these provisions to receive votes, and I will ensure that they do.”

Some have argued that the AWB was a loss leader of sorts. That, gun control advocates had a shoot-for-the-stars-to-land-on-the-moon-type mentality with respect to the AWB (stars) and the UBC bill (moon). That, the real objective was to enact a UBC bill all along.

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