A top Republican is rejecting a potential compromise on gun control negotiated by moderate Republican Sen.
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All the proposals were meant to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, but all failed in the gridlocked Senate.
The two Republican measures would have increased funding for the current background check system and delayed by 72 hours gun sales to people on terror watch-lists, requiring them to obtain a court order.
“We all agree that terrorists should not be able to purchase a weapon; that is not up for debate”, Cornyn said before the vote.
Democrats called the Republican proposals weak and Republicans said the Democratic plans were too restrictive. Democratic critics of Cornyn’s measure, which required the Justice Department to show probable cause within three business days to block a terror suspect from buying a gun, said it would impose an impossibly high burden. “However, we must prevent this while protecting the freedoms of law-abiding citizens who are mistakenly placed on the various watch lists maintained by the federal government”, the Rogers Republican said. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, voted in favor of the two Democratic-backed amendments.
A slim hope remains that there will be action on a compromise fifth measure, drafted by G.O.P. Senator Susan Collins of ME, one of the few Republicans pushing her party on stricter gun-control measures, that proposes a gun ban for people on the “no fly” list and the “selectee” list, as well as an appeals process and automatic flagging if anyone recently removed from these lists buys a gun. Her plan will need support from Republican or Democratic leadership to win 60 votes – and such help has not been forthcoming so far.
Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy, sponsor of one of the failed measures to broaden background checks, was incensed at his defeat.
McConnell dismissed the two proposals as non-serious attempts to push a political agenda rather than make Americans safer.
Recent polls show a supermajority of Americans support common sense solutions to gun violence, including expanded background checks.
“The problem isn’t guns because the Orlando mass murders…the instruments used there were legally purchased”, Grassley said this morning in a conference call with Iowa radio reporters.
Gun control activists participate in a vigil in front of the National Rifle Association (NRA) June 20, 2016 in Fairfax, Virginia.
The Senate has now voted down background check legislation twice under the Obama administration: The first time following the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, and now just a week after the Orlando nightclub shooting.
Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) asked: “What am I going to tell 49 grieving families” in Florida?
Richard Blumenthal, also from CT, tweeted, “Disappointed in tonight’s votes-but we will not give up or go away”.
Blumenthal said his reaction to the failure of the background check and “terror gap” legislation was the same as it was when the Senate three years ago failed to approve new gun restrictions. “I don’t know how somebody stands up, votes for something that wouldn’t have done anything to stop the Orlando shooting and then go home and say, “boy, I’m voting to protect you”.
After Democrats staged a almost 15-hour filibuster urging the Senate to act on gun control last week, the Senate failed to advance four gun measures Monday night. On Monday evening, Leahy’s colleagues rejected bills proposed by both parties to deal with this issue.
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“The largest and most pressing threat against Americans is not guns, it’s terrorists who use guns”.
