Republicans reject tighter gun restrictions

Ryan: Focus after Florida shooting is on enforcement failures

WASHINGTON – Republican leaders in Congress rejected calls for tighter gun restrictions Tuesday despite an in-person pitch from Florida high school students leading a newly energized gun control movement.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans would focus on law enforcement failures, not tighter gun control, in the wake of the latest mass shooting, which left 17 children and educators dead at a Florida school Feb. 14.

“There was a colossal breakdown in the system,” Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday. Ryan cited inaction by a deputy stationed outside the school and tips called in to federal and local law enforcement officials about the alleged shooter, Nikolas Cruz, that raised concerns that the 19-year-old was planning such a rampage.

Students who survived the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., met with lawmakers across the Capitol — including in a 20-minute closed-door meeting with the speaker and an emotional session with House Democrats.

The students-turned-activists have called for a ban on assault weapons, a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips and wider background checks, among other steps. Many Democrats support those measures and said Congress should act to prevent another mass shooting.

“There’s no daylight between the Parkland students and really the overwhelming majority of the Democratic caucus,” Joe Crowley, D-N.Y. and chairman of the Democratic caucus, told reporters after the students spoke to the conference. “It was inspiring to have them here today . ... We took energy from each other. I think that was important.”

Ryan’s spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, confirmed that the speaker met with the students Tuesday afternoon but did not immediately respond to emailed questions seeking details about the conversation.

At his news conference earlier in the day, Ryan said gun control was not likely to be part of any legislative response to the shooting.

“We shouldn’t be banning guns for law-abiding citizens,” the GOP leader said. “We should be focusing on making sure that citizens who should not get guns in the first place don’t get those guns.”

Ryan and other Republicans touted a House-passed bill that would create incentives for states and federal agencies to upload more data to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS. The bill, called “Fix NICS,” has bipartisan support and came as a response to the mass shooting at a Texas church in November.

In that instance, the gunman’s violent history would have precluded him from buying a gun, but authorities failed to report it to the federal background check system.

The House passed its version of Fix NICS in December, but GOP leaders combined that measure with a controversial bill to expand the right to carry concealed weapons, the top legislative priority of the National Rifle Association. Democrats called the concealedcarry measure a non-starter.

In the Senate, John Cornyn, R-Texas, an author of both measures, pushed for a vote on a stand-alone NICS bill.

“Let’s do what we can immediately to pass Fix NICS and build from there,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Democrats and gun control advocates said the NICS bill would not fix all the problems with the background check system, let alone curb gun violence.

“We want full debate,” said Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York. “The students say Fix NICS is not enough, (and) the American people say Fix NICS is not enough.”

Ryan declined to answer questions about whether he would support such legislation. He refused to say whether he would detach the NICS bill from the concealed-carry measure if it became clear that’s all the Senate would accept.