Tom Coburn: Actually, we're not that close to a deal on background checks

“I don’t think we’re that close to a deal, and there absolutely will not be record-keeping on legitimate, law-abiding gun owners in this country,” the Oklahoma Republican said. “And if they want to eliminate the benefits of actually trying to prevent the sales to people who are mentally ill, and the criminals, all they have to do is create a record-keeping, and that will kill this bill.”…

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“If you really want to improve it, you have to eliminate the record-keeping and give people the right and the responsibility to do the right thing and, that’s check on the [national] list to make sure you’re not selling a gun to somebody who is in one of those two categories,” Coburn said, in an appearance on Fox News Sunday.

A Senate aide familiar with the process said Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace erred in the question he posed to Coburn. The aides said there is no discussion of allowing the federal government to keep any records of background checks or sales, something that is already illegal and would not change. What is being proposed is having the seller retain a record of a private sale, just as a dealer does now for a sale that happens at a licensed gun store, the aide said.

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