Washington – A bipartisan group of three
US senators on Wednesday said they were attempting to revive
legislation that failed in 2013 to close loopholes on the law
requiring gun sale background checks, but were awaiting word on
whether President Donald Trump will support their effort.
Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Chris Murphy, along with
Republican Senator Pat Toomey, told reporters they had a
40-minute telephone conversation with Trump in which the
president was engaged on the issue of gun control. They added
that they hoped Trump would convey a decision by Thursday.
"Our best chance of success would be to broaden background
checks to include commercial gun sales," such as those conducted
over the internet and at gun shows, Toomey said.
He added that those sales, largely unregulated, provide a
way "for violent criminals and those dangerously mentally ill to
have a way to easily obtain firearms."
Manchin, referring to Trump, said, "We're going to know
hopefully by tomorrow if there's something we can all agree on."
In December, 2012, a shooter killed 26 people, including 20
young children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in
Connecticut.
The mass murder sparked a long gun control debate in the
US Congress that produced a Manchin-Toomey background check
bill in the Senate.
Votes on that bill and other gun control
measures failed in April, 2013.