BACKGROUND CHECKS, LIMITS ON RIFLES, WOULD ‘SAVE LIVES,’ PANETTA SAYS

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN Jimmy Panetta this week demanded that the U.S. Senate pass federal bills requiring background checks for firearms and a ban on assault weapons after shooters in Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton killed and injured dozens of people. Panetta made numerous comments on social media in the past week in response to the shootings, including calling for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to hold votes on two background checks bills OK'd by the House of Representatives in February. "This inaction must stop," Panetta said on Facebook. "We know background checks save lives. Every day, background checks stop more than 170 felons and 50 domestic abusers from getting guns." He also said the country is "well past the turning point when it comes to doing something on gun violence," and that it "starts with the Senate voting on background checks." Panetta joined members of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and 213 Democrats Wednesday to insist that the Republican-led Senate — which has not yet considered the bills — go back into session to hold a vote on the legislation, which, in part, would prohibit the transfer of firearms between private parties unless a licensed gun dealer, manufacturer or importer takes possession of the firearm to conduct a background check. The Carmel Valley congressman noted that it's been 160 days since House members passed the legislation and said, "if the Senate can't even do their damn jobs and hold votes on these background checks bills, we must hold them accountable." On Thursday, McConnell expressed a willingness, according to the New York Times, to consider a measure expanding background checks for all gun purchasers. President Donald Trump said he's open to extensive background checks, but also said there's no "political appetite" for banning semi-automatic rifles. Panetta, who served with the U.S. Navy Reserves as an intelligence analyst in Afghanistan, also called for the Senate to pass the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019, a bill introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein earlier this year. (The types of rifles used in the recent mass shootings are already illegal to purchase in California.) "Having served our country in a war zone, I know the lethality of rapid-fire, military-style weapons," he said. The bill would make it a crime to import, sell, manufacture, transfer or own a semiautomatic assault weapon or large capacity magazine. The bill allows people who already own such assault weapons to keep them but not sell or transfer them. Congress, according to Panetta, must "possess the will to help prevent these horrific events," and said he would continue to "fight to create change in Congress when it comes to reducing gun violence." While Panetta spoke freely on social media, he did not respond to questions from The Pine Cone about the bills