Ten Republican Senators have joined with the Democrat majority to broker a deal on a gun control package that includes funding for “red flag” laws that critics note violate due process rights and will certainly be used to target conservative voters. The deal was reached on Tuesday night.
“Top Republican negotiator Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who got booed at the party convention in his home state over the weekend, said he, Murphy and the other two top Senate bargainers had reached agreement,” Politico reported.
“The group of negotiators – which included Murphy, Kyrsten Sinema, Ariz., on the Democratic side and Sens. Cornyn and Thom Tillis, N.C., on the Republican side, had hoped to have the text of the legislation out by Monday – but nothing came through,” the report added.
“It lacks the stronger gun control restrictions that President Joe Biden pushed for, and came together on a day when new details emerged of the failures of law enforcement to confront a mass shooter in Uvalde, Texas,” the report noted.
While the gun control package is premised on increasing protection after the Uvalde, Texas mass shooting, there were a number of critical breakdowns in policing that have recently come to light. The Uvalde police were trained to respond to mass shootings at the school, had 19 officers with rifles and at least one shield in the school more than an hour before the killer acted, and the officers never tried to open the door to the classroom as they awaited a key from a janitor — it turns out the door was unlocked.
Thus, the gun control package passed in the Senate does almost nothing to address the law enforcement breakdowns that were the actual cause of the mass shooting. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer endorsed the bill.
“This bipartisan gun-safety legislation is progress and will save lives. While it is not everything we want, this legislation is urgently needed,” Schumer said.
“I support the bill text that Senator Cornyn and our colleagues have produced,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell added.
McConnell slammed the “far left” for having “falsely claimed that Congress could only address the terrible issue of mass murders by trampling on law-abiding Americans’ constitutional rights.”
“This bill proves that false,” McConnell claimed. “Our colleagues have put together a commonsense package of popular steps that will help make these horrifying incidents less likely while fully upholding the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”
The package includes new gun restrictions with some $15 billion in new federal funding for mental health programs and school security upgrades, as well as “red flag” laws that can restrict an American citizen’s right to bear arms without a court hearing.
There were ten Republican senators who have committed to voting to pass the bill:
- Sen. Roy Blunt (MO)
- Sen. Richard Burr (NC)
- Sen. Rob Portman (OH)
- Sen. Pat Toomey (PA)
- Sen. John Cornyn (TX)
- Sen. Thom Tillis (NC)
- Sen. Bill Cassidy (LA)
- Sen. Susan Collins (ME)
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC)
- Sen. Mitt Romney (UT)
There were five more who are at a minimum voting to advance it.
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK)
- Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (WV)
- Sen. Joni Ernst (IA)
- Sen. Todd Young (IN)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell undoubtedly supports advancing the legislation to the floor for a Senate vote by the end of the week.
The conservative Republican base is furious over this betrayal in an election year where the GOP is poised to make historic victories and to effectively put an end to the national nightmare of the Biden administration.
These 14 sellouts are not only putting their political careers at massive risk pushing gun control legislation of dubious legality, but they are potentially sacrificing gains in the U.S. Senate.
It’s the typical ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’ maneuver that has many Americans wondering whose side these Senate Republicans are really on.
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