Buried in the gun deal is a significant advance

It’s easy to despair watching Congress debate gun legislation, especially given that even with reforms our country will continue to be saturated in guns. By some counts there are about 400 million guns in the United States. Legislating — particularly given the Senate filibuster — is maddeningly slow and difficult.

Combine that with the GOP’s longtime unwillingness to consider real reform to the nation’s gun laws, and it’s surprising that Congress looks ready to pass a somewhat bipartisan gun bill at all.

Yet the bill that a bipartisan group of senators rolled out this week contains provisions that represent a serious advance of a longtime liberal goal — even if many of its other features could be described as weak or inadequate.

Much attention has focused on provisions such as investments in mental health and incentives for states to adopt red-flag laws restricting gun sales to potentially dangerous people. But the bill also contains improvements to the federal system for background checks and a crackdown on straw purchases, which, taken together, might prove significant.