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“Rather than merely passing one narrow bill and shifting, we Democrats want to push our Republican colleagues to possess a real debate on gun safety,” Schumer added.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered no indication Tuesday on what, if any, gun votes he would accept to tee up during a possible floor debate for the background-checks bill. Senate Republicans’ weekly conference meeting devoted to school safety in lieu of guns, he told reporters.
“We need to be qualified to harden those schools and protect our little ones,” McConnell said, “so every time they enter the schools, small children they may show up.”
Any broader gun debate would almost surely take Senate floor time a few weeks, and Republicans were focused Tuesday on passing the narrow gun bill prior to when the weekend.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Tuesday that lawmakers “can so we should discuss” universal background record checks, but “that’s an excellent recipe for achievement now.”
“What I have to do is guarantee that and we don’t return home today without passing something,” said Cornyn, the bill’s sponsor. “And that one thing which we can perform now is pass Fix NICS.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday also threw cold water about the push for expansive new gun control measures.
“We must not be banning guns for law-abiding citizens” but “focusing on being sure citizens who shouldn’t get guns to begin with, don’t get those guns,” Ryan told reporters.
The Wisconsin Republican touted a House-passed “Fix NICS” bill, but that measure would not allow gun owners with concealed-carry weapons permits within their state to look at their firearms across state lines – a thought Senate Democrats roundly oppose.
Ryan wouldn’t say whether he had give the House to decouple both the issues in case the Senate passes Cornyn’s bill. If he does, he’ll win the ire of conservatives, who were promised by GOP leaders that wouldn’t happen.
Democratic aides declined to specify which proposals they might refer to considering, but Schumer said his caucus “at a minimum” really wants to debate universal criminal record checks – that was filibustered twice in the Senate following your 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting despite bipartisan support.
And Schumer’s fellow Democrats sounded able to back him in pushing for upwards of the Fix NICS bill. Among the list of caucus’ most politically vulnerable red-state incumbents, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), referred to as bill to better federal gun record-keeping a “fig leaf.”
“It’s a major little step, but surely we will do greater than the teeniest, tiniest steps now,” McCaskill said. The fate in the background-checks bill “depends on whether or not will certainly are suffering from amendments.”
Other gun proposals Democrats are pitching include California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s updated version of the assault weapons ban, this restricts high-capacity magazines. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told Politico that he is taking a fresh consider supporting that proposal following your Florida shooting.
“In light on this recent tragedy, I’ve got to rethink” previous opposition to assault weapons limits that stemmed in the “definitional challenge” of crafting a ban that manufacturers couldn’t easily understand, Warner said inside a brief interview.
Another Democrat who voted against an assault weapons ban in 2013, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, is usually reconsidering his stance considering the Florida shooting.
Beyond the ban, Feinstein is usually using the services of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) for a arrange to increase your age limit for selecting particular sorts of rifles from 18 to 21 that has drawn other GOP supporters. Trump has signaled he previously think about higher age limit, in spite of the NRA’s opposition, most other Republicans are opposed.
“As part of a much better package, I really could probably live with” raising this for several rifle purchases, Cornyn said. “The dilemma is, I wouldn’t find out how that will impact the outcome in this instance or another case.”
Recalling an immigration debate that consumed a week of Senate floor time before ending from a bitter impasse, Cornyn said, “I don’t wish to this to like DACA.”
Burgess Everett and Rachael Bade brought about this report.
