A House committee has advanced a series of gun control measures, including a bill that would ban magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds and a measure to encourage states to confiscate guns from some individuals. But the party leadership in both the House and Senate remain focused on a less ambitious and more politically safe bill that would expand background checks for gun purchases.

The background check measure is widely supported in public polls but it stops far short of what many progressive Democrats want to do legislatively to curb gun violence in the wake of a series of mass shootings. The vast majority of the House Democratic Caucus, for example, have sponsored a measure to ban outright all semi-automatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition devices.