On ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos Confronts NRA Spox Dana Loesch on Background Checks as Loesch Tries and Fails to Mislead Americans

In case you missed it, Dana Loesch was on ABC’s This Week this morning, where she was called out by host George Stephanopoulos and Parkland survivors Ashley Kurth and David Hogg for the NRA’s position opposing criminal background checks on every gun sale and blatantly misleading Americans and NRA members by suggesting that NRA leadership has always supported the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

DANA LOESCH: As it stands right now, only 38 states are reporting less than 80 percent of these convictions to the NICS system. That’s huge.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And Dana, you know perfectly well the reason states aren’t mandated to go through that system is because of a lawsuit the NRA filed. … Dana, as you know, the NRA has consistently sought to defund the background checks system, has fought against the background check system.

Later, Stephanopoulos again confronted Loesch on the NRA’s opposition to criminal background checks on all gun sales. Loesch misleadingly replied “We have background checks for firearm purchases.”

This is misleading and false. Currently, background checks are only required under federal law for sales conducted by licensed dealers. This lets criminals and other prohibited purchasers acquire guns — often from strangers met online or at gun shows — without a background check, no questions asked.

What’s more, the Fix NICS Act, which has gained traction in recent days due to the White House saying President Trump is open to supporting a version of the bill, is different than comprehensive background checks on all gun sales, which 97 percent of American voters support.

The Fix NICS Act does not expand the background check requirement to cover unlicensed sales. It simply incentivizes states and federal agencies to put prohibiting records into the system. In other words, it compels federal agencies to follow existing law and continues the work of pressing states to improve. Comprehensive background check legislation, by contrast, would expand the criminal background check requirement to include unlicensed sales–such as those that take place online or at gun shows.

Even if the Fix NICS Act passed, felons and other prohibited people would still be able to buy guns from unlicensed sellers, at gun shows or online, without a background check, in more than 30 states.

Americans aren’t buying the NRA’s deceitful rhetoric. A new CNN poll this morning finds Americans voters support strong gun laws by a 43 point margin (70 to 27 percent).

And on ABC’s This Week, David Hogg, a student and survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School said:

DAVID HOGG: Look at Dana. Look at what she’s saying. Is she actually saying anything or is that just a tone to distract the American public and distract her NRA members from the fact that she is not serving them? She is serving the gun manufacturers. She is not serving the people of the NRA. Because the people that are joining the NRA: 99.9 percent of them are amazing people that just want to be safe, responsible gun owners.

WATCH the complete exchange here.

###