Congress stalemated on guns despite shooting, filibuster

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump weighed in with a tweet suggesting he would meet with the NRA and support efforts to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists. Chris Murphy of CT pushed to bar people on the government’s terrorism watch list from getting gun licenses.

In addition, the Senate will hold votes for expanded background check proposals, including one by Sen.

One Democratic proposal would prevent individuals who have appeared on the federal government’s terrorist watch list from buying guns, a measure that found support from 83 percent of Americans and 77 percent of Republicans in a Quinnipiac University poll in December. That expired after 10 years. This has a large portion of the population severely anxious, and as a result, the gun control debate has garnered significant support from the American public in recent years.

Throughout his filibuster inspired by the terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida, Murphy cited his experience as the congressman representing the district which contains Newtown, the site of the 2012 mass murder of 27 innocent people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Tens of thousands of constituents have contacted congressional offices demanding action.

“What we need is a process that would block terrorists from being able to purchase a firearm, and at the same time, make sure there’s a mechanism whereby someone who was wrongly put on the list has a chance to clear their name and gets their Second Amendment rights”, Toomey says. Richard Blumenthal, Murphy called it quits at 2:11 a.m. Murphy could have taken a quick break, but he never left the floor and did not go to the bathroom throughout the 15 hours, said spokeswoman Laura Maloney. It would ban people who are on the government’s no-fly list from being able to buy a gun. Sen. After the deaths of 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in December, the Senate again voted down the bipartisan bill 48-50.

Civil libertarians have long voiced concerns over the terror watch lists.

Democrats are pushing a broad plan authored by Sen. Mitch McConnell, into allowing votes on amendments to an annual appropriations bill – in this case to tighten the nation’s gun laws.

Republicans are expected to counter with a proposal from Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Murphy staged a near-15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor over the past two days to secure a vote on those measures and credited his blockade with pressuring Republican leaders to commit to holding the votes.

On Wednesday Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced a measure that would give the U.S. attorney general authority to block the sale of guns or explosives to known or suspected terrorists.

The local USA attorney could permanently block the sale “upon a showing of probable cause before a judge that the individual is involved in terrorism, ” according to Cornyn’s office. The amendments were being added to an Obamacare repeal bill and needed 60 votes to pass.

Gun rights advocates vow to fight hard against any restrictions. McConnell did not file for cloture, nor were Republicans trying to conduct any other floor business. Sen. The other side shouts it wasn’t a gun, it was a terrorist that killed all those people.

“None of this would’ve been happening if we hadn’t gone to the floor and forced this discussion”, he said.

This is not a gun control issue. In debates about NSA surveillance and the USA PATRIOT Act, Republicans had been arguing for widening executive branch discretion, while Democrats had been requesting judicial involvement.

In his remarks Thursday, after visiting Orlando for private meetings with families of the victims of the massacre at the Pulse gay night club, President Obama sounded the same theme, condemning the fact that “weapons of war” were freely available on America’s streets.

“We don’t take away citizens’ rights without due process”, House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters Thursday. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen.