HR 4018 : Three Day Waiting Period for Firearm Purchases

Position: Support Status: Died in a previous Congress

To provide for a 3-day waiting period before a person may receive a handgun, with exceptions.

Update

September 17, 2018

Introduced on October 11, 2017 by Raja Krishnamoorthi [D-IL8] 12 cosponsors (12 D) No members of the Oregon congressional delegation have co-sponsored this bill.

From an October 2017 Gallup Poll:

Extended Waiting Periods Have Long Been Favored

Advocates of a 30-day waiting period for all gun sales argue that it would give law enforcement the time needed to conduct thorough background checks on prospective buyers, as well as thwart impulse crimes. However, there is currently no federal waiting period beyond the three days typically required for background checks [commonly known as the “Charleston Loophole” but also called the Dickey Amendment; note from Ceasefire Oregon], and only a handful of states plus the District of Columbia have their own waiting periods.

Despite the major change that a mandatory 30-day waiting period would entail, a majority of gun owners (57%), as well as the vast majority of non-gun owners (84%), favor the proposal. [Emphasis Ceasefire Oregon.]

This is the first time Gallup has measured public support for a 30-day waiting period. However, in 1981, shortly after President Ronald Reagan was shot in an attempted assassination, 91% of U.S. adults favored a proposed 21-day waiting period “to check to see if the prospective owner has a criminal record or has been in a mental institution.”