Gun control: Are background checks back on the table?

At least one Republican, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, is reportedly considering changing his vote

Jeff Flake
(Image credit: AP Photo/Matt York)

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) may have breathed new life into a defeated amendment to expand background checks for gun buyers. The conservative is reportedly open to reversing his opposition, provided an exemption is added for online sales between friends.

The reported about-face is possibly the first indication that the Senate could resurrect the bipartisan legislation, which was hammered out by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). In a demoralizing defeat for gun-control supporters, the amendment last month fell six votes shy of the 60 needed to get past a GOP-led filibuster.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.