Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
House Passes Legislation To Address Flaw In Background Checks For Guns Dubbed The 'Charleston Loophole'
For the second day in a row, the House of Representatives passed legislation related to gun control, the latest proposal dubbed the so-called "Charleston loophole" bill, aimed at closing a gap in the background check system that allowed a man to purchase a gun and kill nine members of a church nearly four years ago. The bill, HR 1112 was sponsored by Rep. Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat and -- as House Democratic whip -- the highest ranking African-American member of Congress. (Landers, 2/28)
Thursday's bill seeks to close the so-called "Charleston loophole" that allowed an avowed white supremacist to buy a gun used to kill 9 people at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston. S.C., in 2015. Currently a gun seller has to wait three business for federal investigators to conduct background check. Most checks are quick, but incomplete data can sometimes cause a delayed response. If the delay lasts more than three business days, the gun sale can move forward. (Booker and Kaste, 2/28)
The measure鈥檚 passage follows Wednesday鈥檚 vote on a separate bill expanding federal background checks for gun purchases and transfers. President Trump has threatened to veto both measures, and they stand little chance of passage in the Republican-controlled Senate. The bills represent the first major firearms legislation in more than a decade, part of a new 鈥 if cautious 鈥 push by House Democrats to combat the country鈥檚 gun violence epidemic since they retook control of the chamber in January. (Sonmez, 2/28)
For a few minutes at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday afternoon, the message was more Malcolm X than William F. Buckley. Sporting a red hoodie, his hair in cornrows, Maj Toure touted his group, Black Guns Matter. "We go where there's high violence, high crime, high gun control 鈥 high slave mentalities, to be perfectly honest,鈥 he said, 鈥渁nd inform urban America about their human right, as stated in the Second Amendment, to defend their life." (Schreckinger, 3/1)