After already forcing the GOP to publicly reject voting rights and abortion access legislation this year, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is giving Murphy (D-Conn.) an enormous amount of breathing room to cut a guns deal with Republican senators. It’s a pragmatic turn, reflecting how differently the guns issue plays among a 50-member Democratic caucus that’s tried to attract GOP support to gun legislation for nearly a decade now.
Though they don’t emphasize it publicly, Democrats believe there’s a good chance that internal GOP divisions scuttle any gun safety deal in the end. That means they barely have to lift a finger to watch the issue vex Republicans.
And so Democratic leaders are placing no limits on the negotiations, despite their strong feelings about approving more restrictive gun laws. Schumer allows that getting GOP buy-in is a “difficult hurdle to overcome” but is not setting hard deadlines…
“I don’t think that Mitch McConnell wants anything in it. It should be an assault weapon ban. It should be people under 21 shouldn’t be able to buy any kinds of guns like that. It should be a three-day waiting period. It should be background checks and red flag laws,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “But McConnell won’t.”
That’s in part because the GOP will struggle to find the votes to even strengthen background checks on some young people. Republicans expect a significant portion of their 50-member conference will oppose anything that the bipartisan group comes up with, no matter how minor.
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