Divided Senate Votes Down Gun Control Measures
On Monday, the U.S. Senate rejected four gun control proposals introduced in the wake of last week’s deadly Orlando shooting, voting roughly along party lines against two measures sponsored by Democrats and two competing measures sponsored by Republicans, The Guardian reports.
“I’m mortified by today’s vote, but I’m not surprised by it,” said Democrat Chris Murphy, who sponsored one of the amendments and led a nearly 15-hour filibuster last week demanding the vote. “I don’t think democracy allows for this Congress to be so out of step with the American public for long.”
Among the measures considered on Monday were an amendment introduced by Democrat Dianne Feinstein barring suspected terrorists from buying guns and one by Republican John Cornyn giving prosecutors three days to block such a sale. From the Associated Press:
Republicans said Feinstein’s proposal gave the government too much power to deny people’s constitutional right to own a gun and noted that the terrorist watch list has mistakenly included some people. Democrats said the three-day window Cornyn’s measure gave prosecutors to prove their case made his plan ineffective.
Murphy’s rejected proposal would widely expand the requirement for background checks, even to many private gun transactions, leaving few loopholes.
The defeated plan by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, increased money for the background check system. It also revamped language prohibiting some people with mental health issues from buying a gun, which Democrats claimed would reduce current protections.
As early as Tuesday, moderate Republican Susan Collins is expected to introduce her own measure, presented as a compromise, barring individuals on the federal no-fly list (which is much shorter than the similarly secretive and flawed terrorist watch list) from buying guns.
“Theres tremendous interest on both sides of the aisle, I hope that will be having a press conference tomorrow,” Collins told CNN. “We’ll see where we are.”