USA Today: Contentious debate over guns expected soon in Congress

While there has been little action to advance gun rights in the months since voters handed Republicans control of the U.S. Senate, USA Today is reporting that "the debate is coming."

From the article:

"Last November, Americans sent a clear message to Washington that they do not want more gun control by defeating anti-Second-Amendment candidates at the ballot box," said Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. "Our 2016 efforts are focused on electing a pro-Second Amendment president and growing our pro-Second Amendment majority in Congress."

The last time Congress took up major gun legislation was following the December 2012 elementary school shootings in Newtown, Conn. Four months later, proposals to expand gun background checks, ban assault weapons and limit high-capacity ammunition clips all failed.

Gun control advocates say Congress remains strongly sympathetic to the powerful gun lobby, so they've adjusted their tactics to focus on state capitals, where the gun debate has been intense this spring.

But Congress, now fully controlled by Republicans, is far from irrelevant. Gun safety groups and the gun lobby each have bills in the hopper, and offensive and defensive playbooks ready to go.

The article goes on to note that, so far this year, lawmakers have introduced dozens of firearms-related bills. They include:

• An NRA-backed proposal from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that would treat concealed-weapon permits like drivers' licenses, allowing people with a permit in one state to carry in any other state that issues such permits.
• Legislation by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to repeal the District of Columbia's gun control laws, an idea that has languished in the House for years. The proposal could gain momentum with Republicans controlling the Senate and Rubio expected to run for president.
• Several proposals that deal with outdoorsmen. Those include measures to exempt ammunition from EPA regulation, allow guns to be carried on land managed by theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers, steer federal conservation funds toward opening more public lands to sportsmen, and allow bows to be transported across national park land.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.