House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi accused House Republicans of “refus[ing] to disarm hate,” hours before an expected vote on a gun and terrorism package that Republicans hope will alleviate some pressure to pass broader gun control legislation.
“The overwhelming majority of Americans want action to keep guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists and criminals,” the California Democrat said during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. “But the Republican House Congress still refuses to disarm hate and allow a vote on common-sense gun violence protection.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan is backing a legislative package that includes a three-day delay of gun sales to individuals on federal terror watch lists. Some conservatives oppose the proposal, saying it doesn’t do enough to honor due process rights. But House Democratic leaders made clear that Ryan can’t expect help passing the bill from their ranks.
Ryan has been trying to strike a balance among Second Amendment activists, political pressure to ban suspected terrorists from buying a gun and the due process questions raised by using a government list to deprive people of a constitutional right without a court order.
“I’m not going to vote for an unelected official using hidden criteria to put people they don’t like on a list, that may yank you out of your state to try to prove that you are not a terrorist,” Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, said Wednesday.
GOP leadership has rallied the support of the National Rifle Association, a significant step in attracting the votes of rank-and-file Republicans, but Democratic leaders used that as an argument against the package. “It’s endorsed by the NRA and it would make Americans less safe, not more safe,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Wednesday.
Democrats invited the families of gun violence victims to tell their stories and make the case for Democratic-favored gun bills.
“We will not stop until every one of these NRA-funded politicians either step up to the plate and enact change or we will vote them out of office,” Barbara Parker, the mother of a reporter who was killed in Virginia on live television last year, said at the press conference.
