Early last week, Senate lawmakers thought they had a path forward on passing the first bill in decades that would address access to guns.
Now, a compromise is all but dead, despite public demand for congressional action after yet another deadly public school shooting.
A bipartisan measure sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., that would have improved reporting to the background check system used by gun shop owners to screen purchases was on deck for immediate consideration in the Senate.
The measure, called Fix NICS, earned a rare endorsement from the National Rifle Association and three dozen bipartisan cosponsors.
It would have provided incentives and penalties to get states and federal agencies to fully report names that belong in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
But by mid-week, the fragile deal had disintegrated, in part because President Trump, in an unscripted, televised meeting with lawmakers in the White House Cabinet room, threw open the doors to a wider gun control bill with provisions that have long been opposed by his own party.
Trump’s endorsement of expanding background checks, raising the age for gun purchases, stripping guns from the mentally ill, and even banning assault-style weapons, emboldened Democrats, who returned to the Capitol and quickly announced legislation mirroring Trump’s outline.
In short, Democrats lost interest in negotiating on Fix NICS, which they said is too narrow.
They want much more, or what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called “a holistic approach.” Schumer, D-N.Y., announced his party would introduce a three-pronged gun control bill.
“I am urging the president to follow through on his comments, to endorse these proposals,” Schumer said. “The president started on the right foot, but we must work together to get it done.”
The Schumer proposal would expand the current background check requirements for firearm purchases to Internet sales and gun shows. It would also allow families and law enforcement to seek protective orders to “temporarily disarm” people who are a threat to themselves or others.
Schumer also called for a debate on banning so-called assault weapons such as the AR-15 rifle, which is based on the infantry weapon carried by Marines and soldiers. The AR-15 was used to kill 17 people in the most recent shooting in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14.
Schumer said he would include a provision in the bill to ban such weapons, or at least insist on it as an amendment.
He said the legislation could pass with mostly Democrats and, with the prodding of Trump, a few Republicans.
But such an equation would require Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who controls the floor schedule, to take the unusual step of thwarting the will of the majority of his conference.
Several Republicans weren’t even on board with the Fix NICS bill, citing due process problems that have plagued the system for years.
That bill is now stalled, and GOP leaders have no plans to put a gun safety bill on the floor in the coming weeks.
Cornyn, as he left the Senate chamber Thursday and walked back to his office, told the Washington Examiner he feared the effort to legislate gun safety will end up like the recent failed effort to pass an immigration reform bill.
The immigration measure grew broader as time went on, causing more disagreement and, ultimately, lawmakers failed to pass anything.
Cornyn said the narrow Fix NICS measure has the best chance of winning enough votes to pass because it has the widest level of support from both Republicans and Democrats.
“People want to do more, and that’s fine,” Cornyn said. “We are considering that. But, for every vote you get on one side, you lose one on the other side. That gives us two choices: To try to do something that enjoys broad bipartisan support, or try to thread the needle like we did with immigration, and end up with nothing.”
