WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. senators pushed for a compromise gun control bill yesterday, a day after the Senate failed to advance four gun measures following last week’s mass shooting in Orlando, the deadliest in modern U.S. history.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would schedule a vote on a bill by fellow Republican Senator Susan Collins that would prevent about 109,000 people on “no-fly” and other surveillance lists from purchasing guns. Collins said she expected a vote on the bill this week or next.
On Monday, the Senate defeated a Democratic prohibition on gun sales to people on a broader range of government watch lists, while also blocking a narrower Republican measure.
Some senior Republicans would not commit to supporting the Collins bill, citing worries about people being denied the ability to buy weapons without adequate safeguards.
But the No. 3 Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, told reporters: “There may be a glimmer of hope now,” adding that Collins’ proposal seemed to be “a step in the right direction.”
The measure is being debated in the Senate before the Nov. 8 election when Democrats hope to win control of the Senate and gain seats in the House of Representatives. Democrats believe Republican congressional opposition to wider control bills gives them a powerful campaign issue.
It was too soon to tell if President Barack Obama would support the Collins bill. Spokesman Josh Earnest said senior officials including lawyers at the Department of Justice were taking a look at it.
“If the assessment is that this would enhance the ability of our law enforcement professionals to keep us safe and prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing a gun, then that’s likely something that we’ll be able to support,” Earnest told reporters in a daily briefing.
In the Senate on Monday, four measures to expand background checks on gun buyers and curb gun sales to those on terrorism watch lists – two put forth by Democrats and two by Republicans – fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage in the 100-member chamber.
The votes were a bitter setback to advocates who have failed to get even modest gun curbs through Congress despite repeated mass shootings. The bills lost in largely party-line votes that showed the political power in Congress of gun rights defenders and the National Rifle Association.
The White House accused U.S. senators of a “shameful display of cowardice” and said they failed the American people by not advancing any gun control measures after the Florida shooting.
The gunman, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to Islamic State during the June 12 rampage in which he killed 49 people and wounded 53 at an Orlando gay nightclub before being fatally shot by police.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said he had concerns about the Collins measure. “It’s a slippery slope when an American citizen is denied a constitutional right, without forcing the government to come forward with some evidence on the front end” that a person should be prohibited from buying guns, he said.
