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Though the outcomes of the legislative votes are far from sure, the filibuster begun by Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy has succeeded in bringing Republicans to the table for a pair of votes.
Senate Democrats ended a nearly 15-hour filibuster early Thursday after Republican Party leaders reportedly agreed to allow votes on two proposed gun control measures.
The votes will supposedly include a proposal to provide universal background checks, and another to prevent those on the no-fly list from obtaining weapons. The second bill apparently addresses the no-fly list, not the much larger terrorist watch list. These are both positions that have wide, bipartisan support in the public, but which Republicans have either blocked from a vote or voted down in the past.
Some 40 Senators took part in the talking filibuster before it was completed. Unlike the highly publicized Republican filibuster in which Ted Cruz recited Green Eggs and Ham, the content of this 14+ hour filibuster stayed on topic, with statistics, studies, and stories of other shootings filling the time.
As the filibuster approached conclusion, Senator Murphy brought it home with a heartbreaking story from the most notorious shooting in his own state.
... he told the story of Sandy Hook student Dylan Hockley and his teacher Anne Marie Murphy, who died trying to protect him.
"It doesn't take courage to stand here on the floor of the U.S. Senate… It takes courage to look into the eye of a shooter and instead of running wrapping your arms around a 6-year-old boy and accepting death," Murphy said. "If Ann-Marie Murphy could do that then ask yourself — what can you do to make sure that Orlando or Sandy Hook never, ever happens again."
Now the Senate gets a chance to demonstrate simple common sense. And to do their jobs.
It's been nearly a decade since Congress made any significant changes to federal gun laws. In April 2007, Congress passed a law to strengthen the instant background check system after a gunman at Virginia Tech was able to purchase his weapons because his mental health history was not in the instant background check database. Thirty-two people died in the shooting.
If the constant stream of shootings has caused you to forget details of the massacre at Virginia Tech, here's a brief reminder. The gunman in that case was not a “Radical Islamic extremist.” He was a distraught student who suffered from depression and a severe anxiety disorder. But he was carrying two semi-automatic weapons and a stack of ammunition, and that turned out to be enough to kill 32 people, even without Trump’s magic words.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump is groveling to the NRA , asking their permission to take even one step toward sensible regulations.
The NRA-approved Cornyn amendment allows for just a 72-hour delay for investigation, and then the gun sale can go through even if the investigation isn't done. Here's the other thing about that Cornyn amendment that failed in December: he guaranteed it would fail by including a restriction on federal funding to "sanctuary cities," or those who don't comply with federal immigration law. That was hardly a good-faith "compromise" from Cornyn. That much was clear in the simple fact that it was pre-approved by the NRA (because a Republican isn't going to put a gun bill on the floor otherwise).
But the NRA is already fuming over the idea that anyone would tie a shooting to guns.
The National Rifle Association is fiercely opposed to what its leaders called a series of anti-gun bills and amendments, and warned its members Wednesday that the measures are a threat to the right to own firearms.
Though Trump will undoubtedly announce that his meeting was the greatest thing ever, the chances of the NRA giving him any great gift are very low. NRA leaders, all too aware of Trump’s poll numbers, do not believe he’s going to be combing his hair in the Oval Office any time soon, so odds are they see little value in producing any detailed proposal.