The White House on Tuesday denounced the “cowardice” of United States senators who failed to pass gun control legislation taken up in the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre.
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Democrats then tried and failed to push their own watch list bill, which would deny the right of any American citizen to buy a gun for arbitrarily being placed on any government list, even without ties to terror groups or evidence that they’d done anything wrong.
Senior Senate aides left open the possibility of other votes later in the week on unspecified gun control proposals. The more contentious Democrat-proposed bills called for expanding the background check system and outright banning those on government watch lists from purchasing firearms.
On Monday, every proposal submitted by both Democrats and Republicans was shot down -either because it went too far or didn’t go far enough. Some Democrats say they’re at odds with the power of the National Rifle Association. Spokesman Josh Earnest said senior officials including lawyers at the Department of Justice were taking a look at it.
The bill would also require notification to federal authorities if someone who buys a gun, shows up in a broader terrorism database. It failed 47-53.
Led by Sen. Susan Collins of ME, the bill will deny the sale of guns to people on the no-fly list, though they will be offered an appeals process.
The White House, after the June 12 Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, never got fully behind any of the measures. “But because Republicans have blocked that proposal, that’s what some senators have had to resort to”. “I don’t think it’s a position that many Americans are going to have sympathy for”, Earnest said.
Gun-control advocates expressed disappointment after the vote and vowed to take revenge on lawmakers at the ballot box in November.
Murphy walked off the floor after the Senate votes and embraced Erica Smegielski, the daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, a Sandy Hook principal killed during the Newtown shooting.
Durbin says that although Chicago has strict gun laws, many gun crimes in the city can be traced to weapons bought at gun shows in northern Indiana.
“Keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists is common sense stuff”, Tester said. “In light of the bad tragedies that have taken place in Orlando and other cities, it’s not very hard to understand that terrorists or potential terrorists, criminals and the dangerously mentally ill should not have access to guns”.
It was not clear whether Collins’ plan would draw significant bipartisan support.
Working with Democrats on gun control will not endear Ayotte to conservative gun rights proponents, but could prove popular with independents and moderate voters who often decide close elections. The lobbying group urged supporters to tell their senators, “NO NEW GUN CONTROL!”
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So far, however, the Republican-led U.S. legislature has failed to pass any new gun control laws, with opponents saying that to do so would infringe on the constitutional rights of gun owners.
