McConnell Wants To Consider Gun Background Checks In Fall, Won't Reconvene Senate
Source: Huff Post
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Shifting the gun violence debate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday he now wants to consider background checks and other bills, setting up a potentially pivotal moment when lawmakers return in the fall.
The Republican leader won't be calling senators back to work early, as some are demanding. But he told a Kentucky radio station that President Donald Trump called him Thursday morning and they talked about several ideas. The president, he said, is "anxious to get an outcome and so am I."
Stakes are high for all sides, but particularly for Trump and his party. Republicans have long opposed expanding background checks -- a bill passed by the Democratic-led House is stalled in the Senate -- but they face enormous pressure to do something after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, that killed 31 people. McConnell, who is facing protests outside his Louisville home, can shift attention back to Democrats by showing a willingness to engage ahead of the 2020 election.
"What we can't do is fail to pass something," McConnell said. "What I want to see here is an outcome."
McConnell said he and Trump discussed various ideas on the call, including background checks and the so-called red flag laws that allow authorities to seize firearms from someone deemed a threat to themselves or others.
Background checks and red flags will probably lead the discussion, McConnell told Louisvilles WHAS-AM. He noted theres a lot of support publicly for background checks. Those are two items that for sure will be front and center as we see what we can come together on and pass.
Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-consider-gun-background-checks_n_5d4d5bffe4b01e44e478e2c6
Cousin Dupree
(1,866 posts)dchill
(38,474 posts)Garion_55
(1,915 posts)McConnell will do some kind of background check or some kind of gun thing but he will attach money for the border wall to it or money for immigration centers Detention Center something to do with immigration. Something he knows the Democrats are not going to support. Then the bill is going to go down and he is going to blame the Democrats for not wanting background checks.
Stuart G
(38,420 posts)RT Atlanta
(2,517 posts)The bank would rightfully tell me to eff off, then proceed to take my house.
Why arent Kentuckians (or anyone else close by that's able to protest this guy in person 24x7) not shadowing Moscow Mitch whereever he goes?
NCjack
(10,279 posts)Also, it awards DEMs for twisting my pecker."
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)campaign with the focus on "it's the Mental Health " theme to begin shortly. Sure looks like the Rethugs have stepped into it this time and the Frank Luntz Group will be working 24/7 to change that narrative.
Watch for Schumer to get himself Sideways on this topic. Count on it.
bucolic_frolic
(43,138 posts)same ol' same ol'