This is a fine pickle, I tell you
Why Senate Democrats are considering holding up a gun-control bill from one of their own
Here’s how politically tricky the gun-control debate has become: A Republican-controlled Congress might soon vote on a bill to strengthen gun-control laws in the wake of the Florida shooting, and it’s the Democrats who aren’t happy about it.
Even though one of their own is co-sponsoring the Fix NICS Act, which would punish federal agencies that don’t submit criminal records to the national criminal background check system for firearms, Senate Democrats have spent their first few days back in Congress this week dissing the bill.
“What will prevent future tragedy? Comprehensive background checks will. The Fix NICS bill will not,†Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday on the Senate floor. “Let’s not set our sights too narrow or squander this moment.
It’s not that Democrats don’t want to patch up what both sides say are obvious holes in the background-check system; it’s that they think this is a small step to reinforce an existing law rather than expand it. And if they support it, that might be the end of gun control reforms in this Congress, since Republicans will be reluctant to act on much else.
As Ed Morrissey writes on why they’re doing this
Because it might pass – and this tells you everything you need to know about Washington DC. When Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) first proposed the Fix-NICS act last November, he had four members of each party as sponsors, calling it “the most important piece of bipartisan guns legislation since Manchin-Toomey.†The bill would plug the gaps in reporting by federal agencies to the background-check system, failings that contributed to the fatal church shooting that month in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
This is a bill that would easily pass the House and the Senate, if the Democrats actually wanted to solve one of the main issues on guns, namely that people who should be on the list of “nope, do not allow” never get put on the list. As we saw with the Parkland school shooting, there were tons of warning signs which should have seen Cruz put on the deny list. Also, with several other mass shootings.
This leaves Democrats toying with opposing the one gun-control bill that has a realistic shot of passing Congress right now, one championed by their most vocal gun-control advocate, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). It’s a weird look, for sure.
Murphy doesn’t want his own bill brought up for a vote without a guarantee from Republicans to allow votes on other Democratic priorities, like universal background checks. “If we were only to debate the Fix NICS Act,†Murphy told reporters Tuesday, “we would be slamming the door in the face of all these kids who are demanding change.â€
Good grief. What Republicans should do is bring the bill to the floor of the House, vote on it, see the majority, if not all of Republicans vote for it, and if Democrats do not want to vote for it, that’s on them. Then bring it to the Senate, and see if Democrats filibuster it.
What Democrats are saying is that they really do not want to actually fix problems, they want to dink and dunk their way to making it harder and harder for the law abiding citizens to obtain firearms, all the way up to bans.
