Background Checks

The percentage of Americans who favor stricter gun laws is on the rise, though significant partisan divisions persist. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in September found that 60% of Americans say gun laws should be tougher, up from 57% last year and 52% in 2017.

Two months and a day after Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced he was working on a plan to address gun violence in the wake of a mass shooting in Dayton, he unveiled a bill Monday he says lawmakers will approve. 

More than 36 hundred people have written letters, emails and made phone calls to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in the month following the Dayton shootings. 

The CEOs of 145 companies issued a new call for gun safety Thursday, sending a letter to members of the Senate on Thursday stating that it is "simply unacceptable" to do nothing about gun violence and mass shootings in the U.S.

Saying the country is in a public health crisis, the CEOs say new laws that would require background checks on all gun sales "are a common-sense solution with overwhelming public support and are a critical step toward stemming the gun violence epidemic in this country."

Updated at 2:53 p.m. ET

There is widespread support among Americans — Democrats, Republicans and gun owners alike — for a number of initiatives to curb gun violence they would like to see Congress pass, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll.

Laws that would screen for the types of people who could use a gun are broadly popular, but when it comes to bans on certain types of weapons and ammunition, a divide emerges.

A House committee will take up legislation on Tuesday aimed at preventing mass shootings, as lawmakers and the White House move to respond to a recent spate of attacks across the country.

The bills being considered by the House Judiciary Committee include measures that would limit access to high-capacity gun magazines and block any person convicted of a hate crime from obtaining a firearm.

Cincinnati-based Kroger says it will no longer allow customers to openly carry guns in its stores. 

President Trump said he is willing to get behind some changes to background checks for gun buyers as long as Democrats don't move the goalposts and lead him down a "slippery slope."

The president told reporters on Wednesday that he continues to support new or altered checks, without going into detail, and he acknowledged that he has been taking counsel on the issue from the National Rifle Association.

At his first campaign rally after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump appeared to back away from supporting a possible expansion of background checks in favor of a push for more attention to mental illness.

"There is a mental illness problem that has to be dealt with. It's not the gun that pulls the trigger — it's the person holding the gun," Trump said to roars and a standing ovation from the Manchester, N.H., crowd.

Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, is calling for a version of the "red flag" law, expanded background checks, and other gun control proposals in response to the mass shooting in Dayton over the weekend that left nine people dead. These proposals represent a dramatic shift in the way Ohio's state leadership has handled gun policies for most of the decade.

President Trump went before cameras on Monday in highly anticipated remarks following the mass shootings in Ohio and Texas over the weekend. In his remarks at the White House, Trump used the words "domestic terrorism" and "white supremacy." He did not acknowledge his own rhetoric.

The president targeted violent video games and drew a connection between mass shootings and mental health, though the research does not back up his assertions.

Updated at 6:35 p.m. ET

The House passed what advocates call the most significant gun control measure in more than two decades on Wednesday when it approved the first of two bills aimed at broadening the federal background check system for firearms purchases.

The vote on the first bill, dubbed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, passed largely along party lines 240 to 190 with Democrats who control the House cheering as they carried the legislation across the finish line.

Updated at 6:29 p.m. ET

The new House Democratic majority is promising to do something the party avoided when it last controlled the levers of power in Washington: pass gun legislation enhancing background check requirements for all gun purchases.