Senate to Vote on Gun Measures That Previously Failed
Four bills up for a vote have failed before, and few expect different results.
— -- As the Senate gears up for votes Monday evening on four measures to address gun violence, a unifying factor among the bills is that previous versions have all failed before — and few people expect a different result this time.
The last time a mass shooting spurred senators to action was in December 2015, after the San Bernardino, California, shooting, when they voted on two measures intended to prevent terrorists from being able to buy guns.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., authored one of those bills, which would have barred gun purchases by anyone on a terrorist watch list. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, wrote the other, which would have delayed the sale of a gun to anyone on a terrorist watch list for 72 hours to give the government time to get a court order to prevent the purchase from going through.
Neither bill came up with the 60 votes needed, with Feinstein’s failing 45-54 and Cornyn’s going down 55-45.
Both those bills have been altered after the Orlando shooting — including the addition of a five-year look-back period that would require flagging the Department of Justice if someone who has been under a federal terrorism investigation within the last five years tries to buy a gun. That provision might have stopped Orlando shooter Omar Mateen because the FBI previously investigated him for possible terrorism ties.
Although both parties support the new provision, the two bills are expected to tank again on Monday because stances on both still fall heavily along partisan lines: Democrats want to give the attorney general the authority to block anyone on a watch list from buying a gun, and Republicans are strongly opposed. Republicans have focused on providing due process for people who might have been wrongly added to a watch list — which Democrats believe can best be addressed by implementing a more robust redress process.
Another spate of congressional action on gun violence came after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, when Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., released a bipartisan bill that would have closed the so-called gun show loophole, which allows people to buy firearms at gun shows and over the internet without a background check.
That bill failed 54-46. It got a second vote after the San Bernardino shooting and fared even worse, 48-50.
On Monday the Senate will vote on a new loophole-closing measure, sponsored by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Murphy told ABC’s Jon Karl that he doubts the bill will pass.
"I admit that the background checks bill is going to be tough to get 60 votes on, but we still have hope that we can get Republicans to support the bill stopping terrorists from getting weapons," he said on Sunday’s “This Week.”
The last measure the Senate will vote on was authored by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. It would beef up resources available to prosecute gun-law violators.
Like the other three amended bills up for votes on Monday, that bill, in a slightly different form, also previously failed, 52-48 less than a year ago.