Republican Senator John Cornyn from Texas, who is the number two Republican in the Senate, condemned President Donald Trump’s proposal to raise of the minimum age for gun purchases, saying it wouldn’t “save lives.”
“I think what we want to focus on is things that will actually save lives,” Cornyn said Friday, according to CNN. “That’s why I think the focus should be on the Fix NICS bill, which is the only bipartisan piece of legislation that can be signed into law.”
Cornyn added that a bill increasing the age limit on gun purchases that was endorsed by Trump earlier this week, would be “difficult to enforce. I’m not sure why we would go to those lengths when I don’t think that gets to the root of the problem,” he said.
The Hill reported that Cornyn has co-authored a bill with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy that would strengthen the federal background check system, or National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) by requiring states and federal agencies to produce plans to report offenses that would bar people from passing a check needed to purchase a firearm.
The bill requires that federal agencies must report all violations to the National Instant Criminal Background Check system and creates new financial incentives for states to report information. According to The Hill, the proposal is a rare piece of gun legislation endorsed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), and earlier this week White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement saying Trump supports the deal.
Meanwhile, in a Thursday tweet, Trump vowed to push for comprehensive background checks for gun sales, as well as saying that the minimum purchase age should be raised to 21. Previously, the president ordered the ban of bump stock devices, which are modifiers used to increase a semi-automatic weapon’s rate of fire.
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