Savick: Gun background checks unlikely to pass House committee

Published 11:17am Thursday, March 21, 2013
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Firearm bill no longer on target

The House Public Safety Committee chairman dropped a plan to expand background checks to virtually all gun sales that was set for a vote Tuesday evening. District 27A Rep. Shannon Savick, DFL-Wells, who is on the committee and supports background checks, said they may be scratched from the bill entirely.

“The background checks, I’ve been told, are not going to be on the bill,” said Savick, adding that gun shows, which are currently exempt from checks, still would be.

Savick said she surveyed residents of her district to gauge their thoughts on background checks, and the results ended up being about 50-50 between those in favor and those against the checks.

She also received a lot of mail from people elsewhere in the state, including from residents in the National Rifle Association.

“I got a lot of emails from all over Minnesota to vote no on background checks from NRA members,” Savick said, adding she had seen another survey that said 75 percent of NRA members actually supported background checks.

Savick said checks are important for public safety.

“I think we need background checks to stop people that are either a danger to themselves or a danger to others from getting guns,” she said.

While it may not include background checks, Savick said, the bill is changing by the day and will likely look to increase the punishment for felons who buy guns illegally, as well as for felons who have another person carry or buy a gun for them.

Lawmakers said the new bill needs to be ready for a committee hearing sometime this week to meet deadlines.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • N. Apellido

    The problem with the debate over background checks is that we are not discussing details, and that is where the devil can be lurking. I have little doubt that most Americans would agree to expand background checks to private sales and trades. However, the number of people who approve of the government keeping records of gun sales is very much lower. Some politicians insist that a background check must entail government record-keeping of the transaction. That is not true. A buyer and seller could go to a gun store for an instant background check on the seller. If the seller checks out, the transaction is made and no record of the sale is retained. The government could (and in my opinion, should) be prohibited from maintaining records of private sales. If such a bill were written, I’m pretty sure it would pass handily.

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