H.R. 8 advances with five Republicans voting with Dems.

Washington Times: Five Repubs join Dems in useless gun law.

The Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill, H.R. 8, that would mandate background checks for all firearms’ sales — and five Republicans signed on as cosponsors.

If the point of the bill is to stop criminal acts of gun violence, it’s largely useless. If the point, however, is to erode Second Amendment rights under a cloak of halting gun violence — well then, we have a winner.
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Five — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania; Peter King from New York; Brian Mast of Florida; Chris Smith of New Jersey; and Fred Upton of Michigan — voted with Democrats to advance the measure.

Why?

Why indeed.

The AMA Association: Physicians united join Dems in gun control legislation.

AMA Board of Trustees Chair Jack Resneck Jr., MD, cited polls that said most Americans—even gun owners and National Rifle Association members—support background checks.
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Dr. Resneck also noted the AMA’s position that firearm violence is a public health issue. He summarized AMA policies adopted in recent years that call for background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and other commonsense measures that are not intended to infringe on citizens’ Second Amendment rights but meant to keep guns out of the hands of those who would cause harm.

"To keep guns out of the hands of those who would cause harm." Wouldn't that be describing "criminals" or those with a "criminal" intent? And H.R. 8 keeps guns out of their hands how?

From the "Proudly Serving the 10th District of New York", Congressman Jerry Nadler.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) delivered the following opening statement for the markup of H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019:
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"The bill would, therefore, extend the current federal background check requirement—which applies now only to licensed gun dealers—and require virtually all transactions to undergo a background check."