Bipartisan US senators waiting on decision from Trump on gun control

US President Trump Picture: Reuters

US President Trump Picture: Reuters

Published Sep 11, 2019

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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. 

Reuters

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