Five proposals Congress is eyeing after mass shootings

Last weekend’s mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, are putting a renewed focus on what action, if any, Congress will take to curb gun violence.

Though lawmakers are dispersed across the country for the August recess, members are engaged in discussions about how to respond. Meanwhile, President Trump has publicly signaled he is interested in addressing everything from background checks and “red flag” laws to mental health and violence in video games.

{mosads}Lawmakers have already introduced more than 100 bills that mention guns, giving them plenty of early options as they weigh next steps.

Here are some that are getting the most attention.

Universal background checks

Democrats are homing their efforts on trying to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) into giving the House-passed universal background check bill a floor vote. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) used separate phone calls this week with Trump to urge him to support the House measure. In a joint statement they said the president “gave us his assurances” that he would review the legislation.

Democrats say they have public support on their side. A Quinnipiac University national poll released in late May found that 94 percent of respondents supported requiring background checks for all gun buyers.

{mossecondads}But it’s all but guaranteed to fail if it comes up in the Senate. The legislation passed the House with backing from only eight Republicans. All of its 42 sponsors in the Senate are Democrats, meaning it’s unlikely to muster the 60 votes needed to advance.

The House also passed legislation that would lengthen the amount of time a business has to wait for a background check to clear before selling a firearm, from three days to 10 days. That measure received support from just three Republicans.

Manchin-Toomey

A narrower background check bill is being pushed by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). Their measure would extend checks to all commercial sales, including those at gun shows and over the internet.

A spokesman for Manchin said the senator spoke with Trump twice this past week about the bipartisan bill, which the Senate rejected in 2013 when Democrats were in the majority. A spokesman for Toomey said the GOP senator had spoken with Trump three times since the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.

Toomey “has talked with numerous senators on both sides of the aisle every day this week to try and forge a path forward on the Manchin-Toomey bill. Sen. Toomey’s conversations with his colleagues and the president have been helpful and he believes that there is momentum to pass a bipartisan bill,” the spokesman told The Hill.

McConnell name checked the proposal during a Kentucky radio interview, predicting that a discussion about background checks would be “front and center” in the Senate’s debate when lawmakers return to Washington next month. He didn’t say if he would support the measure after voting against it in 2013, or that it would receive a vote this time around.

Only two Republicans who backed the 2013 measure are still in the Senate. While 35 of the Senate’s 47 Democrats voted for the bill in 2013, most of the caucus has now signed on to the broader universal background check legislation.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said there are “big, important differences” between the two bills, adding that “Manchin-Toomey was a product of its political moment.”

‘Red flag’ laws

“Red flag” laws are back on the nation’s radar after Congress discussed but failed to come up with a deal after last year’s mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

The laws, designed to help police identify potentially dangerous individuals, have been implemented in 17 states. Trump even touted the idea during Monday’s speech from the White House, putting momentum behind the talk of passing legislation.

There are two “red flag” bills in the Senate — one from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and another from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Both would incentivize states to enact red flag laws and let family members petition the courts to temporarily prevent someone from buying or owning a gun.

Feinstein and Rubio have each requested Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) hold a vote on their bills, but Graham is working on his own proposal with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

Democrats have warned that red flag legislation is “not enough” after the most recent mass shootings. Some Republicans have also raised concerns that the laws could violate individual rights.

“I have a lot of concerns about the due process component of that,and I don’t want to punish law-abiding citizens,” Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), the No. 3 GOP senator, said about the laws.

Assault weapons ban

Democrats in both chambers have introduced legislation to ban assault weapons, but neither House nor Senate leadership has called a vote on the legislation.

Congress voted in 1994 to ban assault weapons, but that law expired in 2004 amid unified GOP control of government. Since then Democrats have repeatedly tried to reinstate the ban but have run into political hurdles each time.

McConnell said assault weapons would likely be part of the upcoming Senate debate, but warned lawmakers that they can’t “fail to pass something.” Trump predicted there’s “no political appetite” for an assault weapons ban.

Domestic terrorism

Lawmakers, and outside groups, are ramping up talk about whether legislation is needed to help combat domestic terrorism.

The FBI Agents Association, which represents more than 14,000 active and former bureau agents, called on Congress this past week to make domestic terrorism a federal crime.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) has introduced a bill to block gun sales to individuals convicted of hate crimes. His measure is one of a handful that House Democrats are mulling as they consider their next steps.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, is calling for passage of his bill that would authorize domestic terrorism offices for the FBI, Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security and require them to set up an task force to combat white supremacist and neo-Nazis.

“We must do what we can to stop these groups of violent white supremacists — they’re growing in size, intensity, and danger. … It’s time for the Trump Administration to take this threat seriously,” Durbin tweeted.