Last week, the House passed a raft of legislation that would raise the required purchasing age for semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21 and ban high-capacity magazines and bump stocks for civilian use, alongside other restrictions. Proponents said the measure would reduce gun violence, while opponents said Congress should harden school security and improve mental health resources rather than limit gun rights for law-abiding citizens.

The bill is unlikely to be approved by the Senate, where it would need 10 Republican votes to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold. But bipartisan negotiations on a legislative response to a string of recent mass shootings are still underway in the upper chamber. Notable participants in those negotiations include Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), whose home state saw its own elementary school shooting a decade ago. Murphy has pleaded for bipartisan cooperation on a gun bill in the aftermath of a shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) returned to the Senate from a visit to Uvalde and indicated his willingness to participate in those discussions in a floor speech.