One Day After Mass Shooting GOP Blocks Bill That Would Ban Suspected Terrorists From Buying Guns

In a stunningly tone-deaf move, Senate Republicans have blocked several gun control bills that would literally keep suspected terrorists, felons, and the mentally ill from accessing more guns.

Republicans in the U.S Senate Thursday evening voted down several Democratic bills that would have blocked felons, the mentally ill, and suspected terrorists from being allowed continued access to guns. 

By a vote of 45-54, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have banned anyone on the terror watch list from being able to buy a gun. that bill failed in almost an exclusively party-line vote, with one Democrat and one Republican crossing the aisle.

And in defiance of well over 80 percent of the American public, GOP lawmakers voted against strengthening background checks by closing the gun show loophole. That bill failed, 50-48.

Republican Senators also voted against legislation that would strengthen treatment for those with mental illness and substance abuse issues.

60 votes were needed for all three bills. 

The bills were proposed as amendments to a legislation that would repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood, two of the GOP’s greatest goals.

“If you need proof that Congress is a hostage to the gun lobby, look no further than today’s vote blocking a bill to prevent known or suspected terrorists from buying guns and explosives,” Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said in a statement. “Congress has been paralyzed by the gun lobby for years, while more and more Americans are killed in mass shootings. The carnage won’t stop until Congress finds the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and protect the nation.”

In response to the Democrats’ bills, Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn proposed legislation that would “better protect the Second Amendment rights of people who mistakenly end up on the FBI’s terrorist watch list,” Politico reports.

The vote came just 24 hours after two suspects armed with handguns and long guns stormed into a conference room in a facility that assists the developmentally disabled and gunned down 14 people, wounding another 21 people. The victims, most of whom worked for the San Bernardino Health Dept., were having a holiday party and had leased the space. It is the largest mass shooting in U.S. history since a gunman slaughtered 20 first grade children and six school teachers and administrators at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut three years ago.

 

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