Democrats and Republicans band together in bid to prevent terrorist suspects from buying guns, a day after Senate failed to advance series of new measures
A group of bipartisan senators on Tuesday unveiled a rare compromise around gun policy, calling on leaders in both parties to rally around a proposal to prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
One day after the Senate failed to advance a series of new measures to rein in America’s gun violence epidemic, a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans banded together to carve out a way forward so that individuals on the FBI terror watch list do not have access to guns.
Led by Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine known to work with others across the aisle, the lawmakers dubbed their approach a middle ground method of implementing a “No-Fly, No Buy” rule while protecting the due process of Americans who are wrongfully kept under surveillance by the federal government. Collins was joined in the push by three Republicans, four Democrats and her Maine colleague Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
The bill would authorize the US attorney general to stop firearm sales to individuals on the no-fly list or a “selectee” list composed of people who are subject to extra screening at airports.
Americans and green-card holders would be able to appeal if they believed they were wrongfully denied, and their legal fees would be reimbursed by the government were it proved they were put on the list by error.
The FBI has said Omar Mateen, the gunman who killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last week, was on a terrorist watchlist from 2013 to 2014.
The NRA responded to the deal with swift opposition, in a sign of the obstacles yet to come.
“No one wants terrorists to have legal or illegal access to firearms,” said Chris Cox, the executive director of the NRA’s legislative arm. “Unfortunately, Senator Collins and others are focusing their efforts on unconstitutional proposals that would not have prevented the Orlando terrorist attack.
“The American people want Congress to stop playing politics and pass policies that will keep them safe from terrorists.”
Polling conducted in the aftermath of the Orlando shooting has revealed renewed support for gun control. Several surveys also found that vast majorities of the American public favor restrictions that would ban gun sales to those on the terror watch list.
The Collins plan seeks to bridge the gap between the two parties, who offered competing amendments on the terror watch list on Monday only to see both voted down.
Democrats had proposed barring firearm sales to all individuals on the FBI’s list, while Republicans instead put forth a plan that would impose a 72-hour waiting period for such transaction in which the justice department would have to prove there was probable cause to stop the purchase.
Senator Kelly Ayotte, a Republican facing a tough re-election battle in New Hampshire, said she joined the Collins compromise because she was frustrated with show votes that were always going to fail.
“We have an opportunity to stop the politics with this issue,” Ayotte said. “I call on my leadership to hold a vote.”
Jeff Flake, a Republican senator from Arizona, made a similar appeal to a chamber more often swept by politics over meaningful policy.
“What you see here is an effort not to have a vote that will simply allow each party to use a cudgel to beat the other party with … but rather to have something that will actually pass,” Flake said.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, told reporters in his own press conference that he would work toward bringing the agreement up for a vote.
The breadth of support for the measure remained unclear, but notable participants included North Dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat who has traditionally sided with Republicans on key gun measures at the expense of her own party.
“Stepping out isn’t always easy,” she said, dubbing the gun debate as particularly “contentious”.
“But it is absolutely essential if we’re going to get something done.”
Critics have pointed out that neither the shooters in San Bernardino in December nor Mateen were actively on the terror watch list.
Mateen was, however, investigated by federal authorities in the past – and the Collins bill includes a “look-back” provision that would notify the FBI if a person who was on the broader terrorism screening database within the past five years attempted to buy a gun.
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, a former Republican presidential candidate and prominent national security hawk, said he had joined the cause because the nation was “at war”.
“I don’t know how to protect our nation without really changing the way we do business in a fashion that makes sense,” Graham said.
In a message to the NRA, Graham added: “I understand your concerns, but every right has boundaries on it.”
Despite the cautious optimism of the bill’s proponents, bipartisan cooperation on gun safety measures remains rare. More than two decades have passed since Congress passed any significant reforms to the nation’s gun laws, even as advocates have mounted a grassroots coalition in recent years to counter the might of the NRA.
The last major bipartisan proposal, the so-called Manchin-Toomey legislation to expand background checks in 2013, failed even after the horrific elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, left 20 children and six educators dead in December 2012.
Families of nine of the victims and one survivor are currently suing the manufacturers of the rifle used in the massacre to make the case that it was negligent to market a military-grade weapon of war to civilians.
The Senate rejected two amendments pertaining to background checks on Monday – one by Democrats that would require background checks for all firearm sales, except loans and gifts between immediate family members, and another by Republicans that would simply put more resources into the existing federal system to prosecute violations.
Discussion of a breakthrough on background checks was decidedly muted on Tuesday. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who sponsored the 2013 bill, said he was open to revisiting his legislation but had little indication it would come back up for a vote.
His Republican co-sponsor, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, is one of the more vulnerable Senate incumbents this fall.
Virginia senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat who joined the bipartisan gun group, said he hoped movement on the terror watch list would result in increased leverage around background checks.
“This body has been impotent, weak, silent and a bystander to this carnage of gun violence that has gone on in the United States,” Kaine said.
“If we’re waiting around for the Democratic version to sail through here, or the Republican version to sail through here, all those victims who are waiting for us to do something will wait for days, months, years, forever and we won’t get anything done.”
Senator Bill Nelson, whose home state of Florida is still reeling from the Orlando shooting, said he felt morally obligated to return to his constituents with results.
“I owe it to the people of Orlando to try to get something done,” said Nelson, a Democrat.
“I owe it not only to those families of 49, but I owe it to those families of people still in the hospital, some of who may not make it.”
Nelson’s Republican colleague, Marco Rubio, has yet to sign on to the bill but would be a coveted addition. At least some of its proponents, including Collins, Flake and Ayotte, were seen approaching the Florida senator during Monday evening’s votes on the Senate floor.
Rubio, who has said the Orlando shooting had a deep impact on him, voted along party lines on Monday and in a statement criticized the Democrats’ solutions as “politically motivated and driven by a larger ideological agenda to disarm Americans”.
Asked by the Guardian on Tuesday if he was open to the new compromise, Rubio held up a copy of the bill and said he was actively reviewing it.
“If there’s something out there that can keep guns out of the hands of terrorists but protect the rights of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves, I’m open to it,” Rubio said.
“But it has to be something that would have prevented the attack in Orlando or a future potential attack.”
(TheGuardian US)
