During consideration of the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill (H.R. 2578), Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) offered an amendment to require that a background check be conducted for every U.S. firearm sale.
The Senate did not vote directly on Murphy’s amendment but on a motion to table (kill) another motion to send H.R. 2578 back to committee with instructions to add Murphy’s amendment to the bill. The motion to table was agreed to on June 20, 2016 by a vote of 56 to 42 (Roll Call 107). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because federally mandated background checks for all firearm purchases have long been a goal of gun-control advocates, as they could easily be used to restrict firearm ownership by setting arbitrary requirements for passing the background checks. Murphy’s amendment is a blatant violation of the Second Amendment, which prohibits the federal government from infringing upon the people’s right to keep and bear arms.
