Sens. Murphy And Cornyn Seek Framework For Modest Gun Bill
The senators head up an effort to find actions that would be able to get bipartisan support in Congress and help tame gun violence. It's an effort that has fallen short in many previous attempts, and they likely have only a short time to strike a deal before the political momentum will change.
The Hill:
Bipartisan Senate Working Group On Gun Violence Will Meet Tuesday
Republican and Democratic senators negotiating over a legislative proposal to respond to mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, will hold a Zoom call Tuesday in hopes of reaching a deal on a basic framework by next week. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has been tasked by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to negotiate with Democrats, said the talks have been ongoing on the phone and in person. (Bolton, 5/30)
CBS News:
Cornyn And Murphy To Meet Virtually To Attempt "Basic Framework" For Gun Proposals
President Biden told reporters on Monday it's hard to say what one element Republicans might support because he hasn't been negotiating with any of them yet. The president spent Sunday in Uvalde, Texas, grieving with the family members who lost loved ones. "Look, I don't know, but I think there's a realization on the part of rational Republicans -- and I think Senator McConnell is a rational Republican; I think Cornyn is as well," Mr. Biden told reporters on the White House South Lawn on Memorial Day. "I think there's a recognition in their part that they -- we can't continue like this. We can't do this." (MacFarlane and Watson, 5/30)
New York Times:
In The Senate, Chasing An Ever-Elusive Gun Law Deal
The decision of the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, to try for a negotiated compromise on new gun laws in the wake of the latest pair of mass shootings may prove to be a high-stakes bet on representative democracy itself, made at a time when faith in Congress — and the Senate in particular — is in tatters in both parties. President Biden’s promise on Sunday to the families of the shooting victims in Uvalde, Texas — assuring them that “we will” do something about gun violence — raised the pressure on a Senate in which filibusters and disunity have been the watchwords of the past year. (Weisman, 5/30)
Bloomberg:
Democrats Seek Swift Action On Limited Gun-Control Proposals
US lawmakers are setting a tight timetable to negotiate new gun laws, with Democrats signaling they would accept limited progress in exchange for some action that would reduce gun violence in the nation. Republicans and Democrats are working through the weekend to prepare a proposal before Congress returns from recess in a week, Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “We’ve got a short time frame.” (Mohsin and Cavaliere, 5/29)
The Texas Tribune:
Analysis: History Suggests Attention On Gun Policy Will Fade
Time is the enemy. A week has passed since 21 people were murdered in an elementary school in Uvalde, an atrocity still at the center of public and private attention and concern. Gov. Greg Abbott and other politicians bound to gun culture are squirming, but history tells us public attention will subside, that voters will move on to other issues and that the Texas pols can relax into their ardent deregulation of guns, the No. 1 cause of death by injury for kids in the U.S. The elected officials who have done little to protect Texans and other Americans after any of the mass shootings that came before Uvalde have something in common with the dumbfounding inaction of the 19 first responders who idled in a hallway at Robb Elementary for more than an hour last Tuesday while a gunman killed 21 children and teachers. (Ramsey, 5/31)
The Washington Post:
Inside Mitch McConnell’s Decades-Long Effort To Block Gun Control
Mitch McConnell was just finishing up his first term as the junior senator from Kentucky when a mass shooting rocked his hometown of Louisville. On Sept. 14, 1989, a disgruntled employee entered the Standard Gravure printing plant in downtown Louisville and, armed with an AK-47 and other guns, killed eight and wounded 12 others before taking his own life .... McConnell said he was “deeply disturbed,” declaring, “We must take action to stop such vicious crimes.” But he also added: “We need to be careful about legislating in the middle of a crisis.” And in the days and weeks after, he did not join others in calling for a ban on assault weapons like the AK-47 used by the shooter. (Parker and Scherer, 5/28)
More on the gun violence epidemic —
Bay Area News Group:
Guns Overtake Cars As Leading Cause Of Death For U.S. Youth
For decades, the biggest threat kids faced growing up came from the automobiles they happily hopped into every day for a trip to school, the store or soccer practice. Now, it’s gunfire. As the country mourns its latest school shooting victims in Uvalde, Texas, it also has reached a grim milestone: Guns now kill more kids and teens in the U.S. than auto accidents do. The trend has been building in recent years as automobile deaths have fallen with improved safety measures, while gun violence among the young has taken a growing toll. Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that in 2020, the most recent year available, firearms passed motor vehicles as the leading killer of those ages 1-19. (Woolfolk and Blair Rowan, 5/30)
Houston Chronicle:
In Uvalde's Wake, Houston Doctors Stress More Funding, Policy Change
The federal government was already playing catch-up when it started funding gun violence research again in 2019 following a long, politically driven freeze. But as the money trickles in, Houston researchers and physicians say more is needed to inform common-sense laws and practices that could prevent the next mass shooting, like the one in Uvalde that killed 19 children and two teachers. “Even with partial funding, we could really fill gaps,” said Dr. Sandra McKay, a Houston pediatrician and gun violence researcher at UTHealth Science Center at Houston. “Our clinics could be handing out gun locks in their clinics for free, but we don’t because there’s no funding for that. We could be partnering with our local schools (for research opportunities), but there’s no funding for it.” (Gill, 5/27)
ABC News:
Harris Addresses 'Epidemic Of Hate' As Final Victim Of Buffalo Mass Shooting Laid To Rest
The final victim of the supermarket shooting massacre in Buffalo, New York, was laid to rest Saturday, as the country reels from another mass shooting. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff attended the memorial service for Ruth Whitfield Saturday afternoon at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Buffalo. Whitfield, 86, was one of 10 people killed at Tops Friendly Market on May 14 in what authorities are calling a "racially motivated hate crime." "I do believe that our nation right now is experiencing an epidemic of hate," Harris said during the service. (Deliso, 5/28)
AP:
Delaware Lawmaker Suggests Mask Opponents Kill Themselves
House leaders in Delaware on Friday chastised a fellow Democrat who suggested in an online discussion that those who don’t support mask wearing amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases but do support gun rights should kill themselves with their guns. House leaders gave no indication, however, that they want to pursue formal disciplinary action against Rep. John Kowalko. Kowalko made the comment in a post following the Texas school shooting but later deleted his Facebook comments and apologized. (Chase, 5/27)
