Senators: Gun deal within reach, but minus Biden’s wish list

Murphy says talks are ‘tough sledding’ but more serious than previous efforts

Key senators said Sunday there is growing momentum to forge a bipartisan congressional response to recent mass shootings that could toughen federal gun laws for the first time in a generation. But a deal is not yet in hand, they warned, and the delicate talks are expected to continue for several more days as negotiators seek to garner enough Republican support to get a compromise bill through the Senate.

Should an agreement come together, it is certain to fall well short of the parameters that President Joe Biden laid out in a White House address on Thursday, when he called for renewing the federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, as well as significantly expanding federal background checks for gun buyers and removing the firearms industry’s immunity from lawsuits.

But a proposal that would encourage states to set up redflag laws that would allow authorities to keep guns away from people thought to be a threat to their communities or themselves remains under keen discussion, as do measures tackling school security and mental health, according to people involved in the discussions.

“It’s really tough sledding. But I’ve never been part of conversations that are this serious and this thoughtful before, and I know all the Republicans and Democrats who are at the table are there with total sincerity to get an agreement,” Sen. Chris Murphy, the Democratic negotiator of Connecticut, said in an interview Sunday.

Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, a Republican representing Pennsylvania and another member of the small group of senators hashing out a potential deal, said on CBS’s “Face The Nation” that the discussions, while “intensive,” do not “guarantee any outcome.”

“But it feels to me like we are closer than we’ve been since I’ve been in the Senate,” said Toomey, who co-led a failed 2013 effort to expand criminal background checks for gun buyers after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The negotiators — and Democratic leaders — have seized on a growing sense of national outrage following the May 14 attack that took 10 lives at a Buffalo supermarket and the May 24 massacre of 19 children and two teachers inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Other shootings with multiple victims have followed, including incidents in Tulsa; Ames, Iowa; and overnight Saturday in Philadelphia and Chattanooga, Tenn. By one measure, there have already been more than 200 mass shootings in 2022.

Public polling shows consistently strong support for expanding background checks for gun buyers. Surveys taken after mass shootings frequently show strong support for tighter gun laws — 54 percent vs. 16 percent wanting less strict laws, according to a May CBS News/YouGov poll taken after Buffalo but before Uvalde — though that support tends to recede as public attention fades.

Having seen previous attempts at negotiation fizzle as violent incidents left the headlines, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, a Democrat representing New York, signaled last month after the Uvalde shooting that he had limited patience for extended talks. He gave the group 10 days — until the Senate returns today from a week-long recess — to show substantial progress toward an agreement.

Murphy said he spoke to Schumer on Sunday morning and that the deadline has been extended, modestly. “He still feels like we need to come to an agreement by the end of this week,” Murphy said, adding, “I think that’s entirely possible.” Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman declined to comment.

Asked about the pace of the negotiations, a GOP aide familiar with the negotiations said, “We’re aware of the artificial timeline Senator Schumer has created.”