Schumer: Senate Dems Will Push Major Gun Control Bill Early in 2016

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One of the top-ranking Democrats in the Senate vows that his party will "bring a universal background check bill to the floor of the Senate early next year."

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York made the statement Friday at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, where he was honored with the "Sarah Brady Visionary Award," named after the wife of former President Ronald Reagan's press secretary Jim Brady, who was shot and left brain-damaged by an attempted Reagan assassin in 1981.

A press release issued by the pro-gun control organization quoted Schumer's promise to pursue the legislation, and he referenced 1993's Brady Act, which mandated federal background checks and imposed a five-day waiting period on gun purchases in the U.S.

“The Brady Bill proved – proved – that we could do something in this country to make our communities and neighborhoods safer without in any way abridging rights or threatening a legitimate part of the American heritage," Schumer said.

"The Brady Bill was step one… but it was always incomplete. We need to close the loopholes that still remain in the background check system and finish the job that Jim and Sarah Brady started so many years ago. If we could do it then, we can do it now.... We are going to bring the universal background check bill to the floor of the Senate, early next year, and with your help we’re going to win!"

On Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest expressed his hope that Americans would discuss the need for gun control over Thanksgiving dinner.

“As people are sitting around the Thanksgiving table talking about these issues — as they should and I’m sure they all will across the country — I hope that is a question that will be raised and asked by members around the table,” he said in reference to a bill to ban people who are on the terror watch list from purchasing guns, The Blaze reports.

The National Rifle Association is wary of such a law due to what it says are numerous incidences of people being wrongly placed on the list.

The terrorism watch list has over one million names on it, The Blaze notes