Legislation to Watch – S4068 Background Completion Act of 2020

In today’s Legislation to Watch we’ve got S4068 – Background Completion Act of 2020.  The long title is S4068 – A bill to prohibit firearms dealers from selling a firearm prior to the completion of a background check.

S4068

Senate Bill 4068 was introduced June 25, 2020. It is sponsored by Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. As of this writing there are 24 co-sponsors.

According to the sponsors, the legislation will close the “loophole” that allows gun sales to be finalized if a background check is not completed after three business days. Critics have said this “loophole” has allowed for the sale of guns to prohibited buyers

What the Legislation Does

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress has not completed the official summary for S4068 yet. However, the text of the bill is exceedingly simple and takes up less than one page. It just removes the provision allowing firearms sales to progress after 72 hours by changing a few words.

Why You Should Care

The sponsors claim that lives could be saved by prohibiting firearm sales to proceed without a completed background check. There is, however, the chance that a citizen’s Second Amendment rights could be infringed upon. In reading the bill, there is no safe guard guaranteeing that the background check will be completed. There are no provisions to ensure that the responsible agency simply does not complete the check.  Nor to prevent them from dragging it out indefinitely. If the sale can’t proceed without the completed check and the check is never completed, then the person seeking to make the purchase is being denied a Constitutional right. You can use the information here to contact your Senator and let them know your feelings on S4068 Background Completion Act.

You can get updates on this bill HERE and HERE.