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Senate Rejects Four Proposals to Expand Gun Control


The Senate has rejected four separate proposals to curb gun sales, just over a week after the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando killed 49 people.

The proposals, submitted from both sides of the polticial aisle, were expected to fail.

Democrats proposed expanding background checks and banning gun sales to suspected terrorists who are on the government's no-fly list.

Republicans had proposed denying a sales to known or suspected terrorists if prosecutors could convince a judge within three days that the would-be buyer was involved in terrorism.

The four proposals were:

  1. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., proposed letting the government block gun sales to known or suspected terrorists.
  2. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, had proposed halting a gun sale to a suspected terrorist for 72 hours while prosecutors proved probably cause to permanently block the sale.  
  3. Sen. Chris Murphy's, D-Conn, proposed widely expanding the requirement for background checks even for private sales, leaving few loopholes.
  4. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, proposed increasing funds for the background check system.

Murphy had led a15-hour filibuster last week demanding a response to the deadly Orlando shooting. Despite the tragedy, each proposal failed along party lines.

"We want to make sure something like this doesn't happen again," House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday before the votes. "We also want to make sure that we're not infringing upon legitimate constitutional rights."

The last time the Senate voted on gun proposals was after the San Bernardino shooting in December, but each proposal failed then.

Monday's votes were 53-47 for Grassley's plan, 44-56 for Murphy's, 53-47 for Cornyn's and 47-53 for Feinstein's - all short of the 60 needed.

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