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US gun lobby strikes deal
10/06/2007 22:07 - (SA)
Washington - Leading US Democratic lawmakers have struck a deal with the powerful National Rifle Association to authorise stricter background checks on people who purchase guns.
The Washington Post said the deal could lead to the first federal legislation on gun control since 1994 and was negotiated after a mentally ill student went on a shooting rampage at the Virginia Tech university in April.
The talks began shortly after 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui, who should have been barred from purchasing a gun because of an earlier order for psychiatric evaluation, massacred 32 students and staff on the campus before killing himself.
According to the terms, states would get cash incentives to keep the federal background database up to date and would face penalties if they did not comply.
In exchange, Democrats conceded that people with "minor infractions" would be deleted from the database; military veterans who were entered in the system for mental health reasons could appeal to clean their records, and the government would not charge buyers or sellers a fee for background checks.
House Democratic John Dingell, who led the talks, said: "The NRA worked diligently with the concerns of gun owners and law enforcement in mind to make a ... system that's better for gun owners and better for law enforcement."
The last federal gun-control legislation was a ban on assault weapons in 1994, which drew an outcry from the NRA and eventually led to conservative Republicans regaining control of Congress from Democrats.
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