The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Gun control issues still simmering on back burner
Out of the spotlight, still under discussion
WASHINGTON — One week after President Donald Trump stunned fellow Republicans by expressing support for a host of proposals championed by Connecticut Democrats, its largely been crickets on Capitol Hill as far as firearms are concerned.
In the House, guns are not on Speaker Paul Ryan’s radar. And the Senate has turned its focus to an overhaul of Dodd-Frank banking regulations imposed after the 2007-08 Great Recession — not guns.
But beneath the placid surface, there is some churn.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Tuesday blamed Democrats for turning the no-frills Fix NICS bill — aimed at beefing up the existing FBI gun-purchase backgroundcheck system — into a “Christmas tree,” decorated “with other legislative ornaments that look nice to their political base but stand no chance of passing this body or the House.”
For Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., however, it’s Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who are sidetracking gun legislation.
“Who controls what goes to the Senate floor?” Blumenthal said. “It’s one person, (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell. This decision is not ours.”
Momentum for change
At least since the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Blumenthal, Sen. Chris Murphy and other Connecticut Democrats on Capitol Hill have used the momentum generated by this and other horrific incidents to push their legislative agenda forward. But success has eluded them.
After the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the Connecticut Democratic delegation believed the tide had finally turned in its favor.
Among the top items on the wish list were expanded background checks aimed at closing the so-called “gun show loophole.” It would require background checks on most private sales of guns, not just those for gun purchases at federally licensed dealers.
Also included is a measure by Blumenthal and Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., modeled on Connecticut’s 19-year-old statute allowing family members and others to petition courts to temporarily seize guns from individuals who are a danger to themselves or others.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also proposed an open debate on reinstating the assault-weapons ban that existed between 1994 and 2004, although the chances of it passing are commonly judged to be very slim.
Trump and Republican congressional leaders face the conundrum of wanting to appear proactive after the Florida shooting that left 17 dead, while not alienating the National Rifle Association and their gunrights base.
Trump has been virtually mute on guns since he met with NRA representatives a day after the Feb. 28 White House meeting, where he said the premier gun-rights organization doesn’t have much hold over him.
Blaming Democrats for stalling Fix NICS arguably gives Republicans some breathing room. The NRA supports Fix NICS.
Democrats deny they are holding up Fix NICS, pointing instead to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who on Monday blocked a path that would have fast-tracked gun legislation onto the Senate floor.
‘A modest change’
Blumenthal pushed back on Fix NICS as the only menu item that can pass the Senate.
“It’s way too soon to say only Fix NICS would pass,” he said. “But presenting us with Fix NICS and nothing more seems highly problematic. It gives Republicans an opportunity to say they addressed the problem when all they offered is a tiny baby step.”
Fix NICS, co-authored by Cornyn and Murphy of Connecticut, would set up a carrot-and-stick system for encouraging states and federal agencies to hasten the rate of submitting records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System that would disqualify individuals from purchasing firearms. A felony conviction or adjudication of mental illness are among the reasons cited in current federal law for denying purchases.
Murphy himself has characterized Fix NICS as a relatively modest step, no substitute for a broader background-check bill.
“I’m proud that Sen. Cornyn and I came together and wrote the Fix NICS Act,” Murphy said Tuesday. “But let’s be honest — it’s a modest change. If we want to make a significant difference in the fight to reduce gun violence, we need to expand background checks.”
After the Parkland, Fla., mass shooting, “We owe it to the kids in Parkland, and survivors and victims’ families across the country to have an open debate about solutions,” he said.
One bipartisan measure that stands a chance of seeing daylight is the bipartisan STOP School Violence Act, co-sponsored by Blumenthal and Murphy.
It would make Justice Department grants available to schools for training to help identify individuals who might commit violent acts and intervene before tragedy strikes.
Mark Barden, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise whose son, Daniel, died at the school, was in Washington last week to support the House version of the bill.
“This bill allows us to do what we do, which is prevention and training of students and teachers on how to recognize at-risk behavior and take the next steps,” he said.