House

Ryan punts on scheduling gun silencer legislation

by Olivia Beavers - 10/03/17 1:20 PM ET

In the wake of the Las Vegas mass shooting, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday said there are no plans to bring controversial gun silencer legislation to the House floor.

“I don’t know when it’s going to be scheduled. We’re focused on passing our budget,” the speaker said.

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), the author of the gun silencers provision in the Sportsmen Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, told reporters last night that the vote was to be sometime next week, adding “who knows now” after 59 people died and hundreds of others were injured in the nation’s deadliest mass shooting.

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A vote on the bill was first delayed after House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and several others were shot by a gunman in Alexandria, Va., during a congressional baseball practice in mid-June, according to reports.

While GOP leadership never finalized plans for its consideration, Sunday’s shooting has renewed a debate over gun regulations.

Democrats have hammered Republicans for pushing legislation that would make it easier for people to buy gun silencers, also commonly known as suppressors, asking how much worse the outcome at the country music concert would’ve been if a silencer had masked the sound of gunfire spraying the ground as attendees fled the scene.

Following Scalise’s return to Congress and the Las Vegas tragedy, Democrats and gun control activists are calling on Republican colleagues to stand up to the National Rifle Association and other gun lobby groups to prevent other mass shootings from taking place on U.S. soil.

“Today I am calling on the president to come out against the absurd law about silencers. Threaten to veto it if he must and put an end to that bill,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday on the Senate floor.

Republicans, on the other hand, are urging Democrats not to politicize the shooting.

“Politicizing this terrible tragedy is, I think, beyond disgusting,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Monday afternoon.

The deadly shooting has gripped the news cycle, echoing the tragic events of other mass shootings like at Pulse nightclub in 2016, Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 and Virginia Tech in 2007.

Tags John Cornyn Paul Ryan