Congress Grapples With Next Steps on Gun Control Bills After Texas Mass Shooting

What’s the story?

• Democrats' majorities in the House and Senate are weighing their next steps on gun control legislation after 19 students and two adults were killed during a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
• Congress has considered proposals aimed at reducing gun violence in the wake of past mass shootings, most notably in 2013 and 2018. Still, on both occasions, lawmakers were unable to reach the bipartisan consensus needed to get 60 votes in the Senate and overcome the legislative filibuster. 

Senate

• Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) moved Tuesday night to start the process of fast-tracking a pair of House-passed background check bills that could allow for the Senate to take initial procedural votes shortly after returning from Memorial Day recess on Monday, June 6th. 
• Despite the procedural maneuvering, Schumer said Wednesday that he doesn’t plan to bring a bill up for a vote in the near future and expressed skepticism about bipartisan talks. However, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Schumer and Democrats plan to give space for potential bipartisan negotiations around gun safety measures as it’s “the only approach that will result in law.” 
• A number of senators who’ve been involved in drafting past efforts at bipartisan gun safety measures are likely to figure heavily in the push. On the Democratic side, that includes Durbin along with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ); while Republicans such as Sens. Mike Braun (R-IN), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Pat Toomey (R-PA).
• While there is an opportunity for bipartisan legislation to take shape, finding a proposal that satisfies enough senators on both sides of the aisle to reach or exceed the 60 vote threshold will be a challenge. 
• Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) dismissed proposals to increase the security presence at schools and told reporters, “All this stuff like arming the teachers or putting armed guards out in front of schools, that’s not what we need to be [doing].” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) said, “I don’t think the answer is gun control,” and added that gun violence is a “societal problem” that “happens in states with very, very severe gun control laws, and it happens in states that have fewer restrictions.”
• It’s possible that the Senate may eventually hold a vote on the House-passed background check bills, which are known as the Bipartisan Background Check Act and the Enhanced Background Checks Act, or use them as the legislative vehicle for amendment votes or a compromise package if one is agreed to. 
• However, neither is likely to advance in its current form due to mostly partisan votes in the House and skepticism from some moderate Senate Democrats which has prevented their consideration in the Senate to date. The House passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act on a 227-203 vote with eight Republicans in favor and one Democrat opposed, while the Enhanced Background Checks Act passed on a 219-202 vote with two Republicans in favor and two Democrats opposed.

House

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sent a letter Wednesday to inform Democrats that when the chamber returns from its two-week Memorial Day recess on Tuesday, June 7th, lawmakers will take up the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, introduced by Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA), which would implement a federal “red flag” law. 
• The bill would allow federal courts to issue extreme risk protection orders that prohibit a person from buying, possessing, or receiving a firearm or ammunition. A petition for an extreme risk protection order could be filed by a family or household member, or a law enforcement officer.
• While the bill would likely pass on the House floor in its current form, its prospects in the Senate are questionable given that it advanced from the House Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote of 24-18 in October.
• It’s possible that the House Rules Committee may amend it to more closely resemble a similar red flag bill introduced by Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) that would provide federal grants for states and localities to implement their own red flag laws instead of creating a nationwide law to that effect.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: ThatMattWade via Flickr / Creative Commons)