Police Groups Push for Tougher Gun Laws

A coalition of law enforcement groups is calling for stricter gun laws in the wake of last week's mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater, a move that comes in the face of what is widely considered to be a political headwind in Washington that will make federal gun control legislation a near impossibility.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the National Law Enforcement Partnership To Prevent Gun Violence sent a plea to the House of Representatives on Thursday asking for the renewal of a federal ban on assault weapons, and calling for an expansion of background checks on all potential gun owners. (According to Reuters, 40 percent of legal gun purchases are completed without a background check, thanks to a loophole in the law.)

"On issues of public safety, America responds, with one glaring exception," the group's spokesman, Hubert Williams, said. "We have been derelict in our national response to the problem of gun violence."

As the Times notes, the coalition is asking for a politically unpopular expansion of gun control laws that seems to have little traction among legislators. House Speaker John Boehner echoed the line of many in the GOP when he said recently that "what’s appropriate at this point is to look at all the laws that we already have on the books and to make sure that they’re working."