Bill Text: TX HCR16 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to pass universal background checks for all gun purchases.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-11 - Referred to Homeland Security & Public Safety [HCR16 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HCR16-Introduced.html
| 87R6405 JRI-D | ||
| By: Reynolds | H.C.R. No. 16 | |
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| WHEREAS, Requiring universal background checks for all | ||
| firearm sales will help keep guns out of the hands of illegal buyers | ||
| and traffickers, without causing an undue burden on law-abiding | ||
| American citizens; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Currently, federal law requires licensed firearm | ||
| dealers to perform background checks on prospective purchasers, but | ||
| it does not require the same of unlicensed sellers; since this | ||
| exception applies broadly to all unlicensed dealers, it has created | ||
| a dangerous and far-reaching loophole that dramatically increases | ||
| the likelihood of gun murders and suicides; and | ||
| WHEREAS, According to the U.S. Department of Justice, | ||
| "individuals prohibited by law from possessing guns can easily | ||
| obtain them from private sellers and do so without any federal | ||
| records of the transactions"; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Properly enforced background checks help to keep | ||
| guns out of dangerous hands; since the adoption of the Brady Handgun | ||
| Violence Prevention Act in 1994, more than three million people | ||
| legally prohibited from possessing a gun--mainly convicted felons, | ||
| domestic abusers, and the severely mentally ill--have been denied a | ||
| firearm transfer or permit; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Far from being a partisan issue, polling data shows | ||
| that more than 90 percent of the American public supports | ||
| background checks for all gun sales; that includes the vast | ||
| majority of Republicans, Democrats, law enforcement groups, and NRA | ||
| members alike; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Background checks impose virtually no burden on | ||
| law-abiding gun purchasers, as results are returned instantly and | ||
| accurately in most circumstances; and | ||
| WHEREAS, By enforcing a universal background check system on | ||
| all gun sales, firearms will only be kept out of the hands of those | ||
| legally prohibited from possessing them, and the United States will | ||
| be a safer place for all Americans; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to pass a | ||
| federal law requiring universal background checks for all firearm | ||
| sales; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
| copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
| the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
| Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
| members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
| this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
| memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
