Bipartisan Senate Coalition Floats Expanded Background Checks, Red Flag Laws for Guns
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A bipartisan group of ten senators has agreed to come to the negotiating table to attempt to pass legislation aimed at curbing gun violence in the United States after a series of recent mass shootings shocked the nation.
On Tuesday, an 18-year-old gunman entered an elementary school fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas and opened fire with a legally purchased AR-15, killing 19 children and 2 teachers. The shooter was later killed in an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement. A little over a week prior, a gunman stormed a supermarket in a black neighborhood in Buffalo, N.Y. and starting open firing both in the parking lot and in the store, killing thirteen people and wounding two.
Senator Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) is spearheading the talks, which have featured a number of different gun-control proposals such as expanded backgrounded checks, enhanced school security, and red flag laws that allow the confiscation of firearms from those deemed dangerous, the Associated Press reported. The coalition intends to work on the legislation through the Senate’s recess and introduce it for a vote in early June.
To advance gun control legislation in the Senate, which most Republicans reject, claiming that it doesn’t target the root cause of shootings while eroding the civil liberties of law-abiding Americans, Democrats would need the support of ten Republicans in order to meet the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
One proposal being discussed would possibly incentivize states to enact red flag laws on an individual, rather than national, basis. But for some Republicans, red flag laws are already too invasive of a regulation. Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), a member of the bipartisan group, told AP that such an idea would likely be dead-on-arrival for most of his party, “whatever the color.”
The lawmakers are considering encouraging states to adopt such laws through federal grants. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), also in the group, is working on the idea but acknowledged that the “complicated and challenging part” will be determining the criteria for taking a gun from a potentially threatening person.
“There is a powerful emotional element to the red flag statute that gives it momentum, especially after Uvalde and Buffalo, where the shooter indicated very strong signs that he was dangerous,” he told AP.
Expanded background checks have also been pitched, but Republicans have pushed back on the idea, especially a more aggressive long-standing initiative driven by Senators Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), both members of the group, to target more commercial gun sales. Legislation to that effect has failed in the Senate repeatedly in previous years following mass shootings. Manchin, however, had voiced his skepticism over a bill passed in the House last year that would apply background checks to all sales, including private ones, which he felt crossed a line.
While investigators try to figure out how the Uvalde school shooter breached security, and why police at the scene seemed to be late to intervene, Republicans have proposed ramped-up security at schools. Republican Senator Mike Rounds told AP that he wants to see Congress “promote direct funding for local units, to be able to have the resources available to add additional protections to offer a deterrence for these individuals.” While Republicans have resisted sweeping gun control measures, Democrats have historically opposed arming teachers, although Murphy, for instance, seemed amenable to improving school security systems on Thursday.
“There is a common denominator we can find,” Murphy said in the chamber Tuesday just hours after the Uvalde tragedy. “There is a place where we can achieve agreement.”
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer abandoned his push to hold an immediate vote on legislation to strengthen background checks for gun purchasers, instead urging Americans to make gun control a priority at the voting booth in the 2022 midterms.
