Democrats Earmark Gun Control As Top Priority In January Legislative Session

WASHINGTON — After a midterm election sweep that placed Democrats back in control of the House and the Senate, Democrat leaders are signaling that one of their top priorities will be gun control, in the form of universal background checks.

Democrat Jamie Raskin, who won Maryland’s eighth district, said his priorities would include legislation requiring background checks on private gun sales, not just purchases from licensed dealers, according to reporting. He also added that he would “try to close gun-sale loopholes,” a common myth furthered by gun control advocates.

The National Association for Gun Rights was quick to respond, posting on X:

Incoming House Judiciary Chair Jamie Raskin promised in an interview that UNIVERSAL GUN REGISTRATION would be one of the Democrats’ top priorities in the upcoming Congress. It’s barely been 36 hours. They aren’t waiting. They’re coming after your guns.

The implication behind the National Association for Gun Rights statement is that background checks would create a record of every firearm sold, including sales between close friends and family members, with that record being the backbone of a gun registry. Historically, registries always precede confiscation efforts. Today, the ATF holds 1.4 billion gun-related records.

In Minnesota, Governor-elect Amy Klobuchar told reporters that SF 4067 “is going to get passed” and “certainly should be one of our top priorities,” according to state watchdog and gun rights group Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. SF 4067 would ban commonly owned rifles, impose a 17-round magazine restriction, and require mandatory certification of firearms Minnesotans already lawfully own. The bill has already cleared the Minnesota Senate once, by a single vote, which makes Klobuchar’s prediction less a boast than a head count.

“Less than 24 hours after winning, Governor-elect Amy Klobuchar told reporters the gun bill ‘is going to get passed’ and ‘certainly should be one of our top priorities.’ She didn’t say it in her speech. She promised to move Minnesota ‘not to the left or to the right’ and spent her prepared remarks on fraud, jobs, housing and health care. Guns came up only when a reporter asked,” said Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus in a statement.

That Democrats are looking to further gun control measures should be a surprise to nobody. States like Colorado, Virginia, and the District of Columbia are aggressively pushing so-called assault weapons bans; California, Massachusetts, and New York are seeking to ban pistols; and the Virgin Islands, Connecticut, and New Jersey have instituted built-in delays in permitting schemes, as just a few examples. Newly elected federal representatives pushing more gun control measures align with the party’s efforts at the state level.

It’s also highly likely that during the new legislative session in January, Democrats will seek to reinstate the firearms excise tax that was removed by the passing of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” in 2025. The removal of the excise tax led to the historic Texas federal district court decision on August 5 of this year, which nullified portions of the National Firearms Act pertaining to untaxed firearms, like suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns, and other weapons. That decision resulted in a flood of sales of unregistered NFA firearms.

During the 119th Congress, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced an amendment to H.R. 6938, which would restore the tax and set it at an inflation-adjusted $4,709 per item. Gun control groups such as Brady lauded the measure, hoping to restrict “deadly silencers & other uniquely lethal weapons.” The amendment went nowhere. The Senate passed H.R. 6938 without it, 82 to 15, and the bill became Public Law 119-74 on January 23. That Murphy was willing to bolt a $4,709 tax onto an appropriations bill once, from the minority, is the reason to expect it again in January with his party holding the gavel.

Another high priority for Democrats will be the continuing effort to push assault weapons bans, and now all eyes are on the Supreme Court, which will hear the first-ever AR-15-related case (Viramontes), with oral arguments set to occur on December 2, 2026.