13 U.S. senators sent a letter about gun sales to Bass Pro. The company hasn’t responded.

Thirteen U.S. senators, all of them Democrats, sent a letter to Bass Pro Shops and two other companies in late July, asking the retailers to change one aspect of their gun sales policy.

Citing the June shooting deaths of nine members of a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, the senators told Springfield-based Bass Pro Shops, Nebraska-based Cabela’s and Texas-based EZPawn the change is needed out of the “duty to ensure that your products do not get into the hands of dangerous individuals.”

Then, last week, two of those senators, both from Connecticut, held a news conference and encouraged a boycott of the companies until the change is made.

“Listen, I don’t think people should be shopping in these stores unless they make a commitment to require background checks before they sell guns,” Sen. Chris Murphy said on Aug. 3.

While regulations regarding gun sales vary by state, federal law requires firearms dealers to conduct background checks on potential firearm purchasers. The FBI says 91 percent of those checks are “immediate,” or completed within minutes. The other 9 percent require further investigation by agents with the FBI or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The issue at the center of the senators’ request is this: A provision of the Brady Handgun Violence Act allows gun retailers to proceed with a firearms sale after three days if an applicant’s background check is still pending. The senators see this “default to proceed” as a loophole, and the letter asks Bass Pro Shops and the two other retailers to stop selling guns when the background check is still pending but three days have passed.

As of Monday afternoon, the senators still awaited a response.

“No, we have not yet heard back from the companies,” Laura Maloney, press secretary for Sen. Murphy, told the News-Leader.

Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s and EZPawn did not respond to requests for comment from the News-Leader for this story.

The 13 senators who signed the letter are: Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Edward J. Markey (Mass.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and Robert Menendez (N.J.).

Not among the Democrats that signed? Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Anamarie Rebori, spokesperson for McCaskill, issued the following statement Monday in response to a News-Leader inquiry: “Claire applauds retailers who’ve taken this proactive step. Her focus right now is making sure federal background checks are done quickly and effectively, to help stop terrorists and criminals from getting their hands on guns.”

This latest push regarding gun sales was prompted by the June 17 killing of nine members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. FBI director James B. Comey has said that 21-year-old suspect Dylann Roof was able to get the .45-caliber handgun authorities say he used in part due to the “default to proceed” provision. While an FBI examiner was notified that Roof was seeking to buy a gun from a dealer in West Columbia, the examiner did not gain access to a police report that would have prompted Roof to be denied before the three days was up — in part due to confusion over which South Carolina agency had previously arrested Roof.

“After that horrific day when Roof allegedly used the gun in Charleston, the matter was obviously researched and the rap sheet confusion — listing the arresting agency as the Lexington County Sheriff — and the internal contact sheet omission were discovered,” Comey said last month. “But the bottom line is clear: Dylann Roof should not have been able to legally buy that gun that day.”

In their letter to Bass Pro and the other companies, the senators wrote: “The perpetrator’s exploitation of this loophole is not an anomaly. In the last five years, the ‘default to proceed’ loophole has led gun retailers to proceed with 15,729 firearm sales to ‘prohibited people’ – individuals who were deemed ineligible to purchase a firearm once their background checks were completed. Based on FBI data, the Brady Campaign estimates that on average more than ten prohibited people a day are sold guns by gun dealers who do not use their discretion to wait for a final determination from FBI.”

Maloney, Murphy’s press secretary, said Monday the senators are also looking at legislative fixes to the provision, similar to an effort headed by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) in the U.S. House of Representatives. But gun regulation is a tough sell in Washington, and by issuing the letter, the senators signal they hope to find an ally in the private sector. The senators note that Walmart, the nation’s largest gun retailer, made the change they hope to see from Bass Pro and the other retailers back in 2008.

“Responsible gun retailers can act today to address this unacceptable situation,” the senators wrote. “The law allows retailers to decide whether or not to allow gun sales to proceed after the three-day ‘default period’ has elapsed. You have a duty to ensure that your products do not get into the hands of dangerous individuals like the Emanuel AME Church shooter.”

However, other senators have said they see Roof’s ability to get a weapon as a failure on the part of the FBI examiner, not existing law.

“It’s disastrous that this bureaucratic mistake prevented existing laws from working and blocking an illegal gun sale,” Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said last month. “The facts undercut attempts to use the tragedy to enact unnecessary gun laws. The American people, and especially the victims’ families, deserve better.”

The National Rifle Association has defended “default to proceed” as a “critical safety valve,” saying it encourages the FBI to administer background checks “quickly and efficiently” and “preserves a critical aspect of America’s constitutional system, the due process principle that the government cannot arbitrarily deprive a person of his or her rights without making its case against that person. Bass Pro’s flagship store in Springfield houses the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum.

It’s unclear how many guns are sold by Bass Pro each year, and how many are sold when a background check is still pending.

Text of letter

The following letter, signed by 13 Democratic U.S. senators, was sent in late July to Springfield-based Bass Pro Shops, as well as Cabela’s and EZPawn:

“We are writing you with a simple ask: stop selling guns to people who do not first definitively pass a background check. The senseless killing of nine innocent people in Charleston, S.C., on June 17, was made possible because the alleged gunman was able to buy a gun without passing a background check.

A ‘default to proceed’ loophole in the Brady Handgun Violence Act allows, but does not require, gun retailers to proceed with a firearms sale after three days, if an applicant’s background check is still pending. While certain facts remain unknown, the FBI acknowledges that a fully completed background check would have uncovered the alleged perpetrator’s prior arrest on a drug charge and his drug addiction, thereby barring him from purchasing the .45-caliber handgun with which he took nine lives.

The perpetrator’s exploitation of this loophole is not an anomaly. In the last five years, the ‘default to proceed’ loophole has led gun retailers to proceed with 15,729 firearm sales to ‘prohibited people’ – individuals who were deemed ineligible to purchase a firearm once their background checks were completed. Based on FBI data, the Brady Campaign estimates that on average more than ten prohibited people a day are sold guns by gun dealers who do not use their discretion to wait for a final determination from FBI. Responsible gun retailers can act today to address this unacceptable situation. The law allows retailers to decide whether or not to allow gun sales to proceed after the three-day ‘default period’ has elapsed. You have a duty to ensure that your products do not get into the hands of dangerous individuals like the Emanuel AME Church shooter.

In 2008, Walmart, the nation’s largest gun retailer, partnered with Mayors Against Illegal Guns and agreed not to transfer firearms without background checks, even if three days had passed. The short-term inconvenience is minimal. In the vast majority of cases the background check is completed within minutes and the retailer knows whether they may proceed with the sale. After the horror inflicted upon the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, no responsible gun retailer should transfer a gun without first conducting a complete background check.

We implore you to act now. Join the movement of responsible gun retailers both large and small who will not sell a firearm absent a complete background check.”