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Gun owners wary, activists enthused by Senate proposal

BEECH GROVE, Ind. (WISH) — A gun store owner on Wednesday said the Senate’s compromise gun bill contains some good ideas but probably would not have prevented recent mass shootings.

The compromise package unveiled Tuesday night includes language that would include juvenile records in background checks for gun buyers under age 21. It would prohibit gun ownership by non-married intimate partners who have been convicted of domestic violence, thus closing the so-called boyfriend loophole. Penalties for straw purchases would be strengthened. The measure also funds crisis intervention programs across the country and sets aside $750 million to help states fund programs related to red flag laws similar to Indiana’s.

Beech Grove Firearms owner Greg Burge said he had serious concerns about the bill’s wording. As an example, he said the bill needs to more clearly define an intimate partner.

“I’m not real confident in (Congress). They tend to paint everything with such a broad brush,” Burge said.

Fourteen Senate Republicans including Indiana’s Todd Young, joined Democrats on Tuesday night in a procedural vote to bring the bill to the floor. Young said in a statement he was still reviewing the bill text.

“I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and I believe there are prudent steps that Congress can take to address gun violence, particularly related to bolstering mental health resources without compromising the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” Young said.

Young’s vote surprised gun control activists like Becca McCracken, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action’s Indianapolis chapter. McCracken said the bill is the most significant piece of gun legislation to come out of Congress in nearly three decades. She said there’s still time to clear up language that concerns gun owners, such as defining what constitutes an intimate partner for the bill’s purposes.

“There are a lot of people who are able to carry guns that shouldn’t,” McCracken said. “And so we just really need to tighten down whatever language that is concerning.”

Burge said he supports the idea of adding juvenile records to background checks since someone who commits a serious crime in their mid-teens likely will do so again after they turn 18. As for tougher straw purchase prohibitions, he said laws are only effective if they are enforced. He said the bill ultimately will hurt law-abiding gun owners more than criminals.

“I will never believe in passing the burden off onto the law-abiding citizen who chooses to exercise their constitutional right cloaked as, well, we’re trying to deal with the criminal,” Burge said. “In my career, I’ve never seen that work.”