In February 2018, Lance read a letter on the U.S. House floor urging Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to schedule a vote on legislation that would improve the national background check system for gun purchases. The letter, signed by 19 Republican members of the U.S. House, said passing the bill, which has been introduced by U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R) and Chris Murphy (D), would be an "important step toward making our country safer from gun violence." That same month, he called for a lifting of the 1996 federal ban of research into gun violence by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and co-sponsored legislation which would lift the ban.