Honestly there's no need for expanding anything. They need to enforce what's in place.
Why not? What's the harm in extending background checks in person to person transactions, and enforcing them (because they aren't always enforced) at gun shows? Nothing. In fact the bill that was voted down, if you read the bill it included prohibiting the creation of a national gun registry, so removing that fear, what's the big deal? Even the current head of the NRA was for it before he was against it.
On May 27, 1999, LaPierre testified before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime. The Columbine High School shooting, in which 12 high school students and one teacher were murdered, had happened a month earlier. To rebut what he saw as a demonization of the NRA and its members, LaPierre listed a number of actions and laws he said were good policy.
First on that list was this:
"We think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone,"
he said. "That means closing the Hinckley loophole so the records of those adjudicated mentally ill are in the system. This isn't new, or a change of position, or a concession. I've been on record on this point consistently, from our national meeting in Denver, to paid national ads and position papers, to news interviews and press appearances."
He also spoke in favor of preventing juvenile felons from ever owning guns,
setting up instant background checks at gun shows, and keeping schools gun-free.
There’s additional evidence, too.
New York magazine, in a January 2013 story, dug up the advertising campaign LaPierre mentioned in his testimony. Titled "Be reasonable," the NRA ads that ran in national newspapers said, "We think it's reasonable to provide for instant checks at gun shows just like at gun stores and pawn shops. But what's unreasonable is how the proposed Lautenberg legislation ignores the 250,000 prohibited people, like felons, who've walked away from gun stores — instead of being prosecuted for a federal felony for trying to buy a gun."
We contacted the NRA for our previous story but did not receive a response. In January, NRA board member Sandy Froman
told CNN, "The NRA has changed its position, and the reason it's changed its position is because the system doesn't work."
LaPierre himself acknowledged this change in a January 2013 Senate hearing in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting.
"I do not believe the way the law is working now, unfortunately, that it does any good to extend the law to private sales between hobbyists and collectors. … The fact is, the law right now is a failure the way it's working," he said.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., then said, "I understand, back in 1999, you said no loopholes anywhere for anyone. But now you do not support background checks for all buyers of firearms?"
