House Democrats Kick Off the Year With New Gun Control Bill

House Democrats are wasting no time making the most of their newfound majority by coming up with bills that have literally no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Mike Thompson are introducing a piece of legislation on Tuesday that would, if passed, require universal background checks on the sale of all guns. The bill will be called HR 8 in an homage to Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot by a deranged man eight years ago. The legislation will be called to the floor on the eight-year anniversary of the shooting.

“Since the shooting at Sandy Hook, the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force has been fighting for a chance to pass legislation that will help save lives,” Thompson said in a statement. “Finally, with our new majority that ran on helping to prevent gun violence, we will introduce a bipartisan, universal background checks bill. We will hold hearings, we will have a vote, and this legislation will finally pass the House.”

In a statement of her own, Speaker Pelosi said: “In communities across America, courageous survivors, families and young advocates are showing outstanding courage and persistence in demanding an end to the horrific scourge of gun violence in our nation. It is an honor to join Congressman Mike Thompson and former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords to answer their call by taking the first step to pass commonsense background checks – which 97 percent of the American people support.”

The push for universal background checks is a common one in Democrat circles. Though the vast majority of gun sales already require such checks, this bill would expand the scope to include private transactions. This is what the left likes to call “closing the gun show loophole,” a gap that has not, to our knowledge, been taken advantage of in the commission of very many criminal acts. In fact, we can’t remember the last time there was a high-profile shooting where the perpetrator was only armed because he was able to avoid a federal background check. The closest one we can think of is the guy who shot up the black church a few years ago, but that was a situation that would not be resolved by this bill.

Once again, the Democrats are trying to fix a problem that doesn’t actually exist.