House Lawmakers Launch Fresh Efforts To Overhaul Nation's Gun Laws

Congressional lawmakers are launching a fresh push for significant gun control legislation, introducing two bills aimed at sweeping overhauls of the nation's gun laws.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by California Rep. Mike Thompson, who leads the congressional task force on gun violence prevention, reintroduced legislation Tuesday to require background checks for all gun purchasers.

The legislation was first introduced in the House in January 2019, after a wave of youth-led activism that followed the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., rallied Democrats around gun control. It passed in the House in February 2019, making it the first significant piece of gun legislation to be approved by the House in 25 years. But, it stalled in the Senate.

"Time and time again, we have seen that the American people want universal background checks, in fact public polling shows that the majority of people, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, support this," Thompson said in a statement. "We began our work to combat the scourge of gun violence eight years ago after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School and will not stop until we deliver for the American people."