Lankford talks about Gun Legislation

Lankford says current gun background check laws need to be enforced

US Senator James Lankford addressed the issue of possible expansion of gun background checks while addressing the Grove Rotary last week.

Lankford said, “My first concern is that anytime we deal with anything on shootings, there is an initial response of ‘Let’s do something.’  Doing something does not solve the problem. Doing something effective is what we need to try to do.”

He said that Senate leader Mitch McConnel has talked with all the senators and asked them to bring their ideas on what should be done so “we can find common ground.”

He noted that the current federal background checks prohibit out-of-state sales and federal law prohibits transferring a firearm to anyone known or believed to be prohibited from possessing firearms.

He did say that individual gun sellers should have “some responsibility” if they sell a gun to someone who is prohibited from owning a gun. 

He is skeptical of “Red Tag” legislation saying he doesn’t want gun owners to lose their weapons if a neighbor becomes angry and simply calls authorities. A red flag law would permit police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves.

He also indicated that he doesn’t feel a federal limitation on the size of magazines is necessary. He said that he supports the ability of states to regulate magazine size. Currently, nine states and the District of Columbia have magazine size limits. 

Opponents say criminals would still obtain high capacity magazines and point out that mass killing murders normally have multiple firearms They note it takes seconds to reload even low capacity magazines. 

 Lankford supported the ban on the sale of bump stocks which were used by the shooter in the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017.  Bump stocks are now under the same regulations as machine guns and are prohibited as they allow a semiautomatic firearm to be continuously operated. He also supported legislation and additional funding to make sure that the FBI's background program NICS had up-to-date information. 

According to a non-partisan group (Five Thirty-Eight) there about 33,500 fatalities caused by firearms each year in the United States. About two-thirds of those are suicides.

Lankford was endorsed by the NRA in 2014