House Democrats urging gun-safety hearings have swerved sharply from their actions last Congress, when they staged none despite their control of the chamber and pressure from some of their members.

Judiciary Committee Democrats argued last month that it’s “imperative” for the panel’s Republican leaders to examine the nation’s gun-safety laws in the wake of the Arizona shooting rampage that left a 9-year-old dead and a congresswoman seriously injured.

Yet in the two years prior, when Democrats controlled the panel’s schedule, gun reform never got an official hearing, despite the 34 Americans killed each day, on average, by firearms nationwide.