Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) sounded a supportive note about President Obama’s proposal to require background checks at all gun shows, saying gun sales to criminals is an “obvious” problem that needs to be addressed.
Ryan’s comments, picked up by the Raw Story, came in an interview with Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. In the conversation, Ryan traced his concern about the loophole — which allows “private gun sales,” including those between gun show attendees, to legally happen without any criminal background check for the purchaser — back to his first days in Congress:
I think what we should look into is someone who’s not legally allowed to buy a gun buying one, and let’s figure that out. I think we need to find out how to close these loopholes…I remember thinking “there is an area in which you can make this work.”
“Ryan would not commit to any particular form of expanded background checks,” the report goes on. And Ryan is completely against an assault weapons ban, but polling has clearly spooked the swing district Republican into accepting some sort of gun control measure. Look for other less than safe seats to get a little shaky on the subject as well. They may even wind up voting for something more strict than they’d like, in order to avoid the “Rep. X voted against common sense gun regulations like Y” ads in 2014. Bundle up some regulations with these super-popular ones and you might just be able to get something done here.
In any case, we’re hearing a lot less “no way, no how” talk from Republicans on the subject lately. Clearly, something’s going to happen.
