Republican leader says NRA-backed gun bill getting shelved indefinitely

Proposed legislation would ease rules on gun silencers.

House WASHINGTON — Republican leaders called for unity and prayer Tuesday after the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas, but offered no newlegislation to tighten gun laws and said a bill toease regulationsongun silencers would be shelved indefinitely.

“We are all reeling from this horror in Las Vegas,” Speaker Paul Ryan said at a news conference. “This is just awful.”

Ryan said there’s no plan for the House to act soon on a National Rifle Association-backed bill to ease regulations on gun silencers. A House panel had backed the bill last month and lawmakers were expected to move ahead on the measure.

The bill is “not scheduled rightnow. Idon’tknowwhen it will be scheduled,” Ryan said. Instead, Ryanand other GOP leaders urged prayers to unify the country and said a positive way to respond to the shooting is to donate blood.

Ryan’s comments cameas Democrats renewed calls for gun safety legislation.

Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’sNo. 2 Democrat, pushed Congress to pass a universal background checks bill and “commonsense gun laws” to help prevent the next mass shooting.

“We can’t stop the shootings that have already happened in Las Vegas, Chicago, Roseburg, Oregon, and across the nation. We failed to respond in time for those victims and their families. But ifwework together, we can stop shootings in the future,” Durbin said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumerwarned that the GOP-backed silencer bill could have deadly consequences.

“One of the few ways the police had to go after this shooterwas they could look for the sound, try to hear the sound ofwhere the guns came from,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Thank God our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have pulled back on this bill.”

Schumer and other Democrats noted that Republicans postponed a hearing on the silencer bill in June when HouseMajority Whip Steve Scaliseandotherswere shot at a congressional baseball practice.

“Whentwomassshootings force you to delay a bill that would make those mass shootings harder to detect and stop, maybe that’s a sign you ought to let go of the bill go, once and for all,” Schumer said.

Besides the silencermeasure, HouseGOPleaders had been moving forward with a bill to allow people with concealed-carry permits to take theirweapons to other states. Republicanshad been upbeat about prospects for legislation, but votes on both measures seemed unlikely.