Unified Dems press GOP on gun control

WASHINGTON — Democrats pressed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday to approve Housepassed legislation expanding background checks and to take other steps curbing guns, in an offensive fueled by public outrage over this month’s mass killings in Texas and Ohio.

It seemed unlikely that Democrats’ moves would have much impact on top Republicans. While President Donald Trump and McConnell have expressed a new openness to unspecified gun control measures following the back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, and Dayton, Ohio, their decisions likely will reflect the sentiment of fellow Republicans, not predictable pressure tactics by Democrats.

Still, Democrats’ moves underscore their focus on an issue that largely unites them — responding to the massacres that killed 31 people — and away from the party’s hand-wringing over whether to impeach Trump, a question that deeply divides Democrats.

McConnell, R-Ky., came under the sharpest attacks at a news conference held by No. 2 House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., five other House Democrats and gun activists and survivors of shootings.

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said McConnell hadn’t moved gun control legislation because “he’s waiting for the outrage to die down, the headlines to change, the people to turn the page and think about something else.” Congress is out of town on recess until a week after Labor Day.

Hoyer read lyrics from “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Bob Dylan’s 1962 song. “How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died,” Hoyer said, pausing for effect.

Democrats focused on McConnell’s failure to let the Senate consider a measure the House approved in February. It would require background checks for most private sales, including online and gun show purchases of firearms, not just for transactions involving registered gun dealers.