A top White House official on Tuesday condemned the Senate’s failure to pass any of the four gun control measures being considered in the wake of Orlando’s mass shooting attack.
“[W]hat we saw last night on the floor of the United States Senate is a shameful display of cowardice,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday morning of what he called “common sense bills.”
On Monday, the Senate rejected four separate gun control measures put forth following the June 12 massacre at an Orlando nightclub that left 49 dead and 53 others injured. The shooter, Omar Mateen, died in a shootout with police.
“Cowards are people who talk really tough in the hope that they will not be asked to actually act and do something,” Earnest said. “That’s exactly what Republicans have done … But when it actually comes to preventing those extremists from being able to walk into a gun store and buy a gun, they’re AWOL.”
Earnest then added that Republicans won’t act on gun control because “they’re scared of the NRA. That’s shameful.”
All four measures — including two that sought to prevent anyone on a terror watch list from buying a gun — required 60 votes to move forward. The other two would have expanded background checks for gun purchases.
”Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough then showed a CNN poll showing a large majority Americans are in favor of new gun control measures.
”Look, I think it’s common sense. If the government thinks it’s too dangerous for you to board an airplane, why do we think it’s OK for you to walk into a gun store and buy a gun?” Earnest said in response to the poll. “It’s very disappointing that we haven’t had Democrats and Republicans come together in common sense fashion to support something like this.”
Earnest also pushed back against criticism that the Obama administration seeks to undermine the Second Amendment.
“Innocent lives are cut short because we haven’t implemented common sense gun safety measures,” Earnest said. “And the president is determined to continue to use his executive authority to do everything possible to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.”
Congressional Republicans, he said, have to have “the courage to stand up to the NRA … and just do common sense things.”
But those changes in gun laws won’t happen until members of Congress change, Earnest said.
If mass shootings such as the one in Orlando don’t persuade Republicans to act on gun control, “then I don’t know what’s going to,” Earnest said.
“I’m not sure what is going to give you the courage to stand up the NRA,” he concluded.
