These House Republicans, including some from N.J., want improved gun background checks

Rep. Leonard Lance at a 2017 town hall meeting in Mt. Olive. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Nineteen House Republicans, led by Rep. Leonard Lance, urged House Speaker Paul Ryan to bring up legislation to improve the database that licensed gun dealers search before selling weapons.

The legislation would take steps, including requiring regular reports and offering incentives, to ensure that federal agencies and state governments submit information to the background check database that would render individuals ineligible to buy guns.

The lawmakers, who also included Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., and Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist., made the request in a letter to Ryan, R-Wis., in the wake of this month's mass shooting at a South Florida high school.

"Background checks are the first line of defense in law enforcement's efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, domestic abusers and those deemed dangerously mentally ill," said Lance, R-7th Dist.

House Republicans added a similar provision to legislation requiring all states to honor concealed carry gun permits issued elsewhere, even in states like New Jersey that currently don't allow them. That measure is pending in the Senate.

LoBiondo, MacArthur and Frelinghuysen voted for the bill, while Lance, Smith and all seven House Democrats from New Jersey voted no.

President Donald Trump has called for improved background checks in his response to the Florida shooting, and MacArthur reversed his earlier opposition and embraced checks for all gun purchases.

Talk of gun legislation dominated discussion on Saturday among Democratic governors, including Gov. Phil Murphy.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said the current background checks capture just 60 percent of gun transactions, and Murphy said more than 80 percent of the crimes involving guns in his state are committed with weapons brought in from out of state.

"We have to - please God - keep Congress' feet to the fire to make sure ultimately, finally, at long last after too many tragedies, we get legislation in Washington," Murphy said.

House Republicans last year passed two measures to reduce the names of individuals that needed to be added to the database. One bill, signed into law by Trump, overturned the requirement that the Social Security Administration report to the gun database the names of those with mental illnesses who need representatives to handle their disability and supplemental benefit checks.

In addition, the House voted to prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from reporting the veterans it deemed mentally incompetent to the database. Lance was one of only two Republicans to vote no.

House Democrats held a sit-in on the House floor in June 2016 in an unsuccessful attempt to press Ryan to allow a vote on gun safety measures, including expanded background checks. The next year, congressional Republicans voted to penalize lawmakers who hold similar protests.

The National Rifle Association spent more money on politics in 2016 than any other interest group, $55 million in independent expenditures, political action committee contributions and communications with its members. according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group.

Almost all of that money went to support Republican candidates, including more than $30 million to help elect Trump.

"There's only one reason we don't have universal background checks - it's the NRA and the people they purchased in Congress," Malloy said.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.