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WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House followed the Senate's lead Tuesday and unveiled a bill to strengthen background checks for gun purchases.

The measure, introduced Monday night by Reps. Pete King (R-N.Y.) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), also featured bipartisan support from Reps. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) and Peter Defazio (D-Ore.).

The King-Thompson legislation is identical to the bipartisan agreement on background checks struck by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).

Rep. Mike Thompson, a gun-owning Vietnam veteran hand-picked by House minority leader Nancy Pelosi to forge a bipartisan agreement on gun legislation in the House, unveiled a companion background check bill Tuesday that has bipartisan support.

Gun control is complicated. Legislation is byzantine. A policy wonk breaks it down.

The Senate has begun debating landmark gun control legislation. The House will soon have its own proposals. Background checks are in the spotlight. Democrats and their allies want to expand them by eliminating exceptions like the “gun show loophole,” which applies to private sales between individuals, and augmenting the national database of criminal and mentally unstable persons. But the whole story is more complicated.

A leading House Democrat is accusing opponents of expanded screenings for firearms sales of hypocrisy in the fight against gun violence.

Rep. Mike Thompson (Calif.), who heads the House Democratic task force on gun violence, said those challenging an extension of mandatory background checks have no right to claim an interest in keeping guns out of the hands of violent people.

A bipartisan compromise act addressing background checks for firearms sales, the collaboration of two junior U.S. senators, earned the praise of U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, Benicia's representative in the House.

The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act, by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., would require states and the federal government to send all necessary records on criminals and the violently mentally ill to the national Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

With the Senate set to vote on a comprehensive gun-violence prevention bill, a new poll released Friday and commissioned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and VoteVets.org leaves no doubt that veterans believe the president and Congress need to do something to address gun violence.

The nationwide survey of 804 registered voters who are veterans of the military illustrates that veterans believe it is possible to strengthen the country's gun laws while continuing to protect the right to bear arms.

With the Senate set to vote on a comprehensive gun-violence prevention bill, a new poll released Friday and commissioned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and VoteVets.org leaves no doubt that veterans believe the president and Congress need to do something to address gun violence.

The nationwide survey of 804 registered voters who are veterans of the military illustrates that veterans believe it is possible to strengthen the country's gun laws while continuing to protect the right to bear arms.