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On Fox News' America's Newsroom on Friday, I told Julie Banderas I would fight to expand background checks to include all stranger-to-stranger gun sales. It makes no sense to me to allow anyone to sell a gun to someone they do not know who might be a felon or a killer. No one has worked harder to defend our Second Amendment rights than I have. In 2018, the NRA gave me an A+ rating. I am a proud supporter of the NRA and I am a gun owner. I would never sell a gun to a stranger, and I don't think any responsible gun owner would either.

Currently, 80% of all gun sales include a background check. Of the 20% that don't go through a background check, we believe about half are transfers between family members. Federal officials estimate that the remaining 10% of guns sold are involved in more than 80% of gun crimes. It is just common sense that we try to close that that ten percent gap.

We know background checks work because over 750,000 felons have been rejected — stopped from buying a gun — because they couldn't pass a background check.

I'm not naïve enough to believe that background checks will stop bad guys from getting guns — but expanding background checks to include stranger-to-stranger gun sales is one of dozens of steps we are looking at to reduce shootings (read below about my Select Senate Committee on Mass Violence Prevention and Community Safety). Frankly, expanding background checks is too easy not to do — the process takes just a few minutes at a gun store.

The Right Thing to Do

Let me be absolutely clear about this. There is a lot of misinformation out there. I believe gun transfers between family members should continue to be allowed without a background check. What I am proposing is that anyone who wants to sell a gun to a stranger simply go to a gun store and fill out the background check form. Then the gun can be exchanged and the deal is closed. This is NOT a ban on private gun sales and this change in the law will NOT lead to a gun registry. That is utter nonsense. I don't support banning private gun sales or a national registry, and I never will. I am sorry that some of my allies in the battle to protect our Second Amendment rights are angry about this — but as I say in this Fox clip, the National Rifle Association is just wrong on this. Their refusal to compromise on this issue will only hurt our long-term defense of the Second Amendment.

Every public poll I have seen in the past year shows there is broad support for expanding background checks. After the El Paso shooting, a Fox News poll showed that 90% of Americans support expanding background checks, including strong majorities among Republicans and gun owners. If those of us who support the Second Amendment won't begin a discussion on this common sense change in our current laws, we risk losing everything. The crazed gun control crowd— from Biden to Beto — will sweep in and destroy our rights. They want to take away our guns — and even remove the Second Amendment from the Constitution. Some have proposed "buy back" programs — which is absurd — you can't buy back something you don't own — our guns belong to us and we have a constitutionally protected right to have them.

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