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The mother of the El Paso shooter reached out to police about her concern about her son "owning an 'AK' type firearm, lawyers for the family confirmed to CNN." Her call was "transferred to a public safety officer who told her that—based on her description of the situation—her son, 21, was legally allowed to purchase the weapon." Nothing could be done. That's just fine by Mitch McConnell.
McConnell remains insistent that he's not going to bring anything to the Senate floor without majority Republican support. Never mind that the Senate would likely have majority support for swift and substantial action because—news flash—there are also Democrats in the Senate and probably enough Republicans who would join them. But Democrats of course don't count. So Trump can tell reporters there is no "appetite" for substantive action like and assault weapons ban because McConnell can keep tight control on them.
He won't even have a test vote, even for less stringent measures like the expanded background checks passed by the House, in which his members are free to vote their conscience. The NRA is relying on McConnell to maintain that clampdown. When Trump uttered the words "background checks," NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre got on the phone with him and "told him it would not be popular among Trump's supporters." It's a pretty safe bet that the next call LaPierre made was to McConnell to say "none of that."
McConnell's strategy at this point is to do their bidding by waiting this out. He's letting his members—Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham—grandstand about their own ideas and legislation but showing no inclination to do anything about it. Republican strategist Whit Ayres explains. Letting a few weeks go by means advocates "lose the momentum of the moment. […] I am hesitant to make any predictions in the aftermath of the latest tragedy, given the fact that past tragedies have raised the possibility of changes in our laws that have never come to fruition." Because McConnell is so effective at preventing it from happening. Until the next massacre.
It will take "an alignment of the planets to get something significant changed given the controversy over any sort of laws affecting guns," says Ayres, a controversy that's manufactured entirely by the NRA and the far right. The voting public isn't confused. They want stricter gun laws. McConnell is the primary obstacle. He is keeping us all in danger.