Senators from both parties have been negotiating a gun control bill for the last week. They released the text of the 80-page bill Tuesday and won statements of support from more than 64 senators in the 50-50 split Senate.
Some negotiators have faced criticism for giving too many concessions to the opposite side… and remaining open to further concessions.
For one, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas represented the Republicans during the bill’s negotiations, and he has already alienated some of his constituents.
He’s also hinted at a new bipartisan deal to grant illegal immigrants living in the United States amnesty.
The senator said of the gun control deal, “Some think it goes too far, others think it doesn’t go far enough. And I get it. It’s the nature of compromise.”
On Friday, Cornyn took the stage at the Texas Republican Convention and was booed by the audience. Some commentators attributed the audience’s reaction to Cornyn’s role in crafting the gun bill.
“I’ve never given in to mobs and I’m not starting today,” Cornyn reportedly said about the cold reception.
He added, according to The Associated Press, “I believe that the same people who are telling us to do something are sending us a clear message, to do what we can to keep our children and communities safe. I’m confident this legislation moves us in a positive direction.”
What’s uncertain is whether passage would mark the beginning of slow but gradual action to curb gun violence, or the high water mark on the issue. Until Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings, gun control efforts have yielded only stalemate in Washington.
Now, Cornyn has voiced his intent to start working with Democrats on other issues, like federal illegal immigration policy.
“First guns, now it’s immigration,” a smiling Cornyn reportedly told Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., on the Senate floor Tuesday.
The swing-voting Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz, added, “That’s right, we’re going to do it.”
Take a look —
Well, sounds like Texas Republicans aren’t a fan of Cornyn’s anti-2A bill
Entire convention center just erupted into boos when Cornyn took the stage pic.twitter.com/YUXHHijsOe
— Zach Henry (@zhenryaz) June 17, 2022
After Sen @JohnCornyn was met with such hatred at the @TexasGOP convention in Houston, I'm told he said to a few people "I've never given in to mobs and I'm not starting today" #txlege
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) June 17, 2022
More positive ~~ vibes ~~ on Senate floor.
A smiling Cornyn tells Padilla, “First guns, now it’s immigration”
“That’s right, we’re going to do it,” Sinema added
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) June 21, 2022
Lawmakers released the 80-page bill nine days after agreeing to a framework for the plan and 29 years after Congress last enacted major firearms curbs. It cleared an initial procedural hurdle by 64-34, with 14 Republicans joining all 48 Democrats and two allied independents in voting yes.
Two additional Republicans were absent and did not vote. One of them, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, released a statement of support. After the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, Toomey led the Republicans in negotiating a similar bill, which ultimately stalled in the Senate.
The Senate is scheduled to begin a two-week July 4th recess by this weekend, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted that the gun control bill would pass the Senate later this week.
After that, the Democrat-led House could pass the bill very quickly, and the Democrat-occupied White House could sign it almost immediately.
Although the Republicans blocked some tougher restrictions sought by Democrats, the accord marks an election-year breakthrough on an issue that pits the GOP’s staunch gun-owning and rural voters against Democrats’ urban-centered backers of firearms control. That makes it one of the most incendiary culture war battlefields in politics and a sensitive vote for some lawmakers, particularly Republicans who might alienate Second Amendment stalwarts.
The legislation would toughen background checks for the youngest firearms buyers, require more sellers to conduct background checks, and beef up penalties on gun traffickers. It also would disburse money to states and communities to improve school safety and mental health initiatives — so-called “red flag” laws.
The bill would require that federal background checks for gun buyers age 18 to 20 include examination of the purchaser’s juvenile record. That could add up to seven more days to the current three-day limit on background checks.
The suspects in the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings were both 18 years old, a profile that matches many recent mass shooters.
There would be hundreds of millions of dollars to expand community behavioral health centers, telemedicine visits for mental specialists, and train first responders to handle people with mental health issues. More than $2 billion in spending would be provided to hire and train staff for school mental health services, including $300 million to improve school safety.
Congress’ prohibited assault-type firearms in 1993 in a ban that expired after a decade, lawmakers’ last sweeping legislation addressing guns.
Aides estimated the measure would cost around $15 billion, which Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the lead Democratic bargainer, said would be fully paid for.
Resolving one final hurdle that delayed the accord, the bill would prohibit romantic partners convicted of domestic violence and not married to their victims from getting firearms. Convicted abusers who are married to, live with or had children with their victims are already barred from having guns.
The compromise prohibits guns for a person who has “a current or recent former dating relationship with the victim.” That is defined in part as one between people ”who have or have recently had a continuing serious relationship of a romantic or intimate nature.” An offender’s ability to own a gun could be restored after five years if they’ve not committed another serious crime.
On another late dispute, the bill would provide $750 million to the 19 states and the District of Columbia that have “red flag” laws making it easier to temporarily take firearms from people adjudged dangerous, and to other states with violence prevention programs. States with “red flag” laws that receive the funds would have to have legal processes for the gun owner to fight the firearm’s removal.
The legislation lacks far more potent proposals that President Joe Biden supports and Democrats have pushed unsuccessfully for years, derailed by GOP Second Amendment advocates. These include banning assault-type weapons or raising the minimum age for buying them, prohibiting high-capacity magazines, and requiring background checks for virtually all gun sales.
Yet after 10 Black shoppers were killed last month in Buffalo, New York, and 19 children and two teachers died days later in Uvalde, Texas, Democrats and some Republicans decided that this time gun control was neccessary.
Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voiced his support, calling it “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.”
Granted, it seemed likely that a majority of Republicans — especially in the House — would oppose the legislation. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, tweeted that the bill “ignores the national crime wave & chips away instead at the fundamental rights of law abiding citizens.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a possible White House contender, said it would “restrict the freedoms of law-abiding Americans and put too much power in the hands of politicians and political officials.”
However, the bill seems to have won support from a pivotal minority of Republicans.
The measure will need only 10 GOP votes to reach the 60-vote threshold that major bills often need in the 50-50 Senate, and appears to have 64 votes.
It will almost certainly pass through the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.