Days before the 8-year anniversary of a mass shooting at one of the oldest Black churches in the country, Democratic lawmakers are employing a little-used tactic to move forward three gun control bills in the Republican-controlled House.

What You Need To Know

  •  Democratic lawmakers are employing a little-used tactic to move forward three gun control bills in the Republican-controlled House

  • The bills would ban assault weapons, implement universal background checks, and close the so-called “Charleston loophole,” which allows buyers to purchase a gun if their background check does not come back to the seller within three days

  • The process Democrats are using to attempt to pass the bills is known as a “discharge petition,” which allows lawmakers to circumvent Republican leadership to bring a vote to the House floor if they get a majority to sign the petition. If every Democrat signs on, they would still need five Republicans to force a vote
  • The three Democratic bills all passed last Congress, but died in the evenly divided Senate. It’s not clear if they would pass in the Senate this time around, even with Democrats having a slightly expanded 51-seat majority

The bills would ban assault weapons, implement universal background checks, and close the so-called “Charleston loophole,” which allows buyers to purchase a gun if their background check does not come back to the seller within three days. 

The loophole was named for the city in South Carolina where a white supremacist gunman entered Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015, and killed nine worshipers. The shooter was sold the gun used in the killings after his background check took longer than three days.

“That racially motivated attack took nine parishioners' lives and injured three others as they participated in the Bible study,” Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said on the House floor on Tuesday. “Tragically, that very loophole enabled the gunman, who I might add was not eligible to purchase a firearm, to acquire a firearm and commit that horrendous act.”

The process Democrats are using to attempt to pass the bills is known as a “discharge petition,” which allows lawmakers to circumvent Republican leadership to bring a vote to the House floor if they get a majority to sign the petition. If every Democrat signs on, they would still need five Republicans to force a vote.

The Democrats previously unsuccessfully tried to use a discharge petition to bring a vote on raising the debt ceiling in May.

“We just need a handful of Republican colleagues willing to put partisanship aside and do the right thing for the American people,” Clyburn said. “I would respectfully ask that they reflect upon the nine parishioners who lost their lives at Emanuel AME Church eight years ago. I hope they will conclude that to prevent lives from being needlessly lost in the future, they must ensure that the Enhanced Background Check Act of 2023 be enacted into law.”

Clyburn’s bill would require a background check period of 10 business days. If the FBI cannot complete it within 10 business days, the buyer would be able to request an expedited review that would then require an additional 10 business days. If the check is still not completed during the expedited review period, the buyer would be able to complete the purchase. If no expedited review is requested, the buyer would have to wait until the background check is complete.

Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., is leading the petition effort for the assault weapons ban, inherited from the recently retired Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I. 

The bill would make it a crime “to knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess” semiautomatic weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices — accessories that give guns the ability to fire more than 15 rounds of ammunition without reloading.

McBath, whose 17-year-old son was shot and killed in 2012, released a video on Tuesday featuring her remarks during a committee hearing from last year.

“Was my child afraid? Did he feel the pain as the bullets ripped through his skin? How long did it take him to die? Was it quick or did he suffer?” McBath asked. “We are facing the challenge of our lifetime and this is the issue of our era. And we must summon the courage to do what is right. The courage to protect our kids.”

The third bill, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, would require background checks for firearm sales between private parties. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., is leading the charge for that bill, which he has introduced in some form every Congress since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Connecticut that left 20 kids ages six and seven, as well as six staff members, dead.

There have been 291 mass shootings in the first 164 days of 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as incidents where four or more people have been shot, not including the shooter. 

The move by Democrats comes as Republicans passed a bill on Tuesday that would undo a rule regulating “stabilizing braces” implemented by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at the direction of U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland earlier this year.

Stabilizing braces are accessories that can be attached to the rear of handguns and strapped to a shooter’s arm, effectively turning pistols into “concealable assault rifles,” according to Brady, the gun violence prevention nonprofit named for President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary who was shot and partially paralyzed during a 1981 assassination attempt against Reagan. 

According to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, weapons with stabilizing braces were used in multiple mass shootings in recent years, including the shooting earlier this year at a school in Nashville that left three nine year olds and three staff members dead. Braces were also used in mass shootings at a LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, Colo. in 2022, at a grocery store in Boulder, Colo. in 2021, and in a busy neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio in 2019.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., argued at a press conference on Tuesday that the ATF rule discriminates against disabled veterans and gun owners who rely on braces to be able to use weapons stably. The rule, which exempts braces “that are objectively designed and intended… for use by individuals with disabilities, and not for shouldering the weapon as a rifle,” requires stabilizing brace users to register their firearm with the ATF, remove and dispose of the brace entirely, turn the firearm into the ATF, or destroy it.

“Millions of law-abiding gun owners rely on stabilizing braces to improve their accuracy and defend themselves,” Clyde said. 

The bill from Clyde – who owns a “nationwide firearms business” according to his official biography – faces an uphill battle in the House. His legislation became the center of a dispute between the House Freedom Caucus, a hard right coalition of congress members that he is a member of, and House Republican leadership over strategy in the last couple weeks. He said he received a guarantee last week that leadership would bring his bill to a vote this week.

The bill passed 219-210 along party lines. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Ma., said the bill would "make it easier to kill people." Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called the ATF rule a "power grab being carried out by the executive branch," charging that the bill was a "defense of the Second Amendment" and a "defense of the separation of power."

On Monday, the White House said President Joe Biden would veto the bill if it reached his desk.

The three Democratic bills all passed last Congress, but died in the evenly divided Senate. It’s not clear if they would pass in the Senate this time around, even with Democrats having a slightly expanded 51-seat majority.