Senate won’t block fiends from guns

‘Not ALL on watch list are terrorists’

‘Our thoughts, our prayers are with those who have been impacted by the attacks.’ Marco Rubio

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans voted against barring suspected terrorists, felons and the mentally ill from getting guns Thursday.

The GOPers, led by Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, parroted National Rifle Association arguments that the legislation would strip some innocent people of their constitutional rights to gun access.

A pair of Democratic measures — one to close background-check loopholes to make it harder for felons and the mentally ill to buy guns and one to ban those on the terror watch list from buying guns — went down in flames against nearunanimous GOP opposition.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Daily News he was “aghast” Republicans blocked the bills.

“To say it’s OK for would-be terrorists to buy guns after what happened in Paris, in California shows just a total disregard for public safety and a total fear of the NRA. And it’s hard to believe the NRA could be so unreasonable. They’re digging their own grave,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, speaking on the Senate floor Thursday before the vote, said the NRA is a “quasi-militant wing of the Republican Party.”

“Those who choose to do the NRA’s bidding will be held accountable by our constituents,” the Nevada Democrat said.

Sen. John Cornyn, who introduced a competing bill aimed at undercutting the provisions to block those on the terror watch list, warned that the Democratic legislation would mean “the government can take from you valuable constitutional rights.” He called it “un-American.”

“You’d have to believe that the federal government is always right and is all-knowing” to support the legislation, Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, said, adding that not everyone on the terror watch list is a terrorist.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the sponsor of the bill focused on terror suspects, pointed out that the idea originated with the Bush administration in 2007.

Her legislation was blocked 54 to 45, with all but one Republican and just one Democrat voting against it.

Republican senators first voted in favor of a halfmeasure that allowed the Justice Department to issue an injunction against someone on the terror watch list within 72 hours of their attempt to purchase a gun.

If that injunction doesn’t go through, the sale would go forward. That amendment passed with just one Democratic supporter and one Republican voting against it.

Minutes later, most Republicans stood together to block resurrecting earlier legislation to improve the background check process by a 50 to 48 vote.

The government can take from you valuable constitutional rights ... it’s un-American.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN