“How many mornings do we have to wake up to news of a shooting at an elementary school or a college campus, a theater where people are gathering for a chance to just escape and enjoy a movie, or as we learned last Sunday morning, a nightclub during June, which is gay pride month?” she said against a backdrop of a photo array of the Orlando shooting victims.
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Senator Ted Cruz, former Republican presidential candidate and someone who once held the Senate in a filibuster for over 21 hours, criticized Murphy’s move as “political distraction”.
The two men fighting for Coats’ senate seat in the fall, U.S. Rep. Todd Young (R-9th) and former democratic U.S. Rep. Baron Hill also weighed in on gun control in light of the filibuster.
Noting that a few Democrats had skipped a classified briefing on the Florida nightclub shooting to participate in the filibuster, McConnell chided: “It’s hard to think of a clearer contrast for serious work for solutions on the one hand, and endless partisan campaigning on the other”.
They ended their speeches before dawn, citing a Republican pledge to hold votes soon on measures to expand background checks on gun buyers and prevent people on USA terrorism watch lists from buying guns.
It’s still unclear after U.S. Sen. Republican Susan Collins of ME, leading the new effort, is considering a more tailored approach.
Murphy was asked by co-host Norah O’Donnell, “Would any of the legislation that you’re supporting have prevented the shooter in Orlando, the shooter in San Bernardino, or the shooter in Newtown from purchasing a gun?” “That would allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation to put the individual under surveillance or take other appropriate action it deems necessary”, Collins’ office said. He argued that it is too easy for automatic weapons to be obtained. The ban expired 10 years later.
Polls show large numbers of Americans agree with the need for at least some limited gun measures such as background checks. That was up from 60 percent in late 2013 and late 2014.
Although the Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, is believed to have had no help from extremist Islamist groups in targeting a gay nightclub, he had been investigated by US authorities for possible links to terrorism and subsequently cleared.
Collins’ office declined to provide a detailed account of legislation she is working on with Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. Cornyn defended the bill and emphasized the importance of granting due-process protections to people placed wrongfully on the watch list.
It would ensure that people who have been investigated for ties to terrorism are entered in to a database. “You just can’t have a secret list prepared by secret people that denies someone their constitutional right to keep and bear arms”, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions said.
Murphy, a Democrat, yielded the floor around 2 a.m. Thursday after 15 hours of speaking and taking questions from fellow senators, saying he’d received assurances that the Senate would soon vote on two gun-law measures.
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Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, held the floor on Wednesday night in a “filibuster”, a tactic that enables lawmakers to block proceedings. -Canada border is monitored by USA border officials.
