Sen. Chuck Schumer blasted President Trump’s budget proposal for stripping millions from the background check system used to prevent criminals and the mentally ill from getting guns.
The White House budget plan would strip 16% from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, Schumer said — cutting its budget from $73 million to $61 million.
“Our background check system is our line of defense. We need to make it better, and here Donald Trump is cutting it,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday. “It’s just appalling.”
The system is used to conduct checks under a federal law requiring licensed gun dealers to do background checks before making a sale, to determine whether the buyer has a serious criminal record or has been adjudicated as mentally ill and ineligible to buy a gun.
“It means that people who shouldn’t get guns because they’re felons or adjudicated mentally ill will, because they’ll fall through cracks in the system,” Schumer said.