Gun safety bills will not immediately be taken up in Senate, Schumer indicates
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged his Republican colleagues Wednesday to compromise on two pieces of gun safety legislation — but it could take some time for the bills to reach the floor.
During a speech on the Senate floor, the New York Democrat indicated that the chamber would not quickly take up House-passed background check bills in the aftermath of the tragic Uvalde, Texas, school shooting that killed 19 students and two adults.
“Americans can cast their vote in November for senators or members of Congress that reflect how he or she stands with guns with this issue — this issue at the top of the voters’ lists,” Schumer said, appearing to indicate that the Senate needs more pro-gun reform lawmakers for any change to happen.
“In the meantime, my Republican colleagues can work with us now. I know this is a slim prospect, very slim, all too slim — we’ve been burned so many times before — but this is so important,” he continued.
On Tuesday, Schumer took the first procedural step to bring the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and Enhanced Background Check Act — both passed in the House in March of last year with bipartisan support— which would expand background checks for firearms.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) attempted to pass the Enhanced Background Check Act in December following a shooting at a Michigan high school, however the move was blocked by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who claimed it would not solve problems and was “hostile towards lawful gun owners,” The Hill reported.
Neither bill has reached a Senate vote and it is not guaranteed that they will reach the floor for debate during this legislative calendar. They will likely be picked back up following the Memorial Day recess next week.
If either piece of legislation makes it to a vote, it will still face a steep climb to reach the necessary 60 votes to pass in the evenly split Senate.
Several gun reform bills have struggled to pass in Congress in recent years — largely because of partisan politics.
In 2013, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) attempted to pass legislation that would expand background checks but the bill failed in a 54-46 vote. Following the mass shooting in Buffalo, NY earlier this month, Manchin pointed back to the legislation, saying “it’s the most agreed upon, it’s the most accepted in the country and we can’t even get that done,” the Hill reported.
However, Toomey remains skeptical that it could even pass, telling the Washington Post that a popular Republican president has the best chance at pushing a federal gun bill. The Pennsylvania lawmaker also revealed that the White House has not contacted him about working on potential legislation.
In April 2021, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Ammunition Background Check Act of 2021, also known as “Jamie’s Law” — named after one of the victims in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The legislation has not been considered in either chamber.
During the Trump administration, an effort to expand background checks after a series of high-profile mass shootings seemed to be gaining steam – but was derailed when Democrats pushed to impeach the president.
Trump had been in early stages of negotiating with Democrats including Manchin and Murphy on restrictions, but talks grinded to a halt after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats pushed to impeach Trump.
Murphy told Politico in an interview at the time that the impeachment push “may temporarily be the end of the road for a lot of legislative initiatives.”
Trump tweeted that Democrats were focused on “hurting” him and the Republicans that they weren’t able to do anything else, including gun safety bills, Politico said.
Ultimately, Trump was acquitted in the Senate of abuse of power charges.
The stalled negotiations came months after the House had already successfully passed versions of the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and Enhanced Background Check Act in February 2019, one year after the Parkland shooting.
Schumer has held votes expected to fail in the past — with the aim of showing American voters where each senator stands.
“I believe that accountability votes are important. But, sadly, this isn’t a case of the American people not knowing where their senators stand,” he said Wednesday. “They know. They know because my Republican colleagues are perfectly clear on this issue.”
In the meantime, Schumer is expected to force a vote on the House-passed Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act on Thursday. The legislation is not expected to get much — if any — Republican support, as several GOP senators have blasted the bill over government monitoring.
