Washington silent on gun control
Posted:
Sunday, December 16, 2012, 7:03 AM
They've watched mass shootings of college kids and schoolchildren, issued countless statements of sympathy, and lived through a colleague taking a bullet to the brain, but Friday's rampage in Newtown, Conn., doesn't appear to have moved lawmakers any closer to writing new gun laws.
Instead, gun-control advocates in Congress are looking to President Barack Obama to build public support for new laws so that it becomes more politically risky for Republicans, and pro-gun Democrats, to stand in their way. It's a sign that they know they can't get anything done on their own.
The gun-control caucus hasn't grown overnight - in fact it's been shrinking in size and passion for years. The executive director of the Gun Owners of America, an influential group in conservative circles, said Friday that "blood is on the hands of members of Congress" because of restrictions that are already on the books. And those in power on Capitol Hill haven't said much of anything, except that they're mourning the loss of those who were killed.
The problem: They can't agree on the problem. Pro-gun folks say arming Americans will make them safer. The gun-control crowd believes limiting access to automatic weapons and high-capacity clips can prevent massacres like the one on Friday.
They all say something must be done - the same thing they say after each horrific mass murder. But nothing is ever done. The truth is that Capitol Hill has been paralyzed on gun issues for most of this generation, having last approved major gun laws, including the "Brady bill" and the now-expired assault weapons ban, in 1994. Since then, the needle has moved toward fewer restrictions on guns and ammunition.
The president said Saturday that he wants to see "meaningful action" on prevention, but shied away from talking about gun control directly.
Many Democrats hope that Obama, who is traveling to Newtown to participate in a vigil tonight, will soon push Congress to enact new gun-control measures. The White House declined Saturday night to preview his remarks.
But there's little reason for congressional gun-control advocates to believe that this tragedy will spark a rush to legislate. When Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House from January 2009 to January 2011, they didn't reauthorize the assault weapons ban or put any other gun laws on the books. Party leaders have been afraid of a potential political backlash against culturally conservative Democrats from swing states, some of whom want to keep the National Rifle Association in their camp - or at least on the sidelines.
Gun policy is so toxic in Congress that unrelated bills have been scuttled because of proposed amendments dealing with firearms.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, a Long Island Democrat whose husband was killed by the Long Island Rail Road shooter, beat a pro-gun Republican in 1996. She's introduced four bills this Congress aimed at strengthening restrictions on guns and ammunition, including one offered up 10 days after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was nearly killed in a massacre in Tucson, Ariz., in January 2011, but she has watched them languish.
McCarthy has said she's willing to embarrass Obama publicly if he doesn't take up the issue - and that's what she conveyed to the White House before Friday's killings.
"I agree this is not the time to talk about [gun control]," she told POLITICO's Reid Epstein. "It should have been talked about years ago when we started having these mass shootings. It should have been done when Gabby Giffords was shot."
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) on Friday called for limiting the sale of assault weapons to the military and law-enforcement agencies, increasing the number of police in schools, require gun owners to go through safety courses and ensure that background checks are performed on those who purchase weapons at gun shows.
But congressional leaders have so far been silent on the subject of policy changes.
"We are all crushed by the news of today's horrifying massacre in Newtown," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday. "I invite everyone to lift their hearts in prayer for the victims and their families and to unite around the hope that there will soon come a day when parents no longer fear this kind of violence in our nation again."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement that he was in "shock and disbelief."
But spokesmen for both Senate leaders did not reply Saturday to requests for comment on whether their bosses would be inclined to support any new gun-control legislation.
The National Rifle Association stayed out of Reid's nail-biter re-election bid in 2010, a coup for a Democrat in a western swing state. The NRA had even flirted with the idea of endorsing him that year. The reasoning: If he lost his job as majority leader, the Democratic Party would be led by gun-control advocates.
"The Second Amendment and the National Rifle Association are always one bad incident away from politicians like Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin exploiting their agenda of gun control," Andrew Arulanandam, an NRA spokesman, told POLITICO at the time.
Obama, who once derided some Americans for clinging to guns and religion, choked up Friday over the tragedy but made no immediate call for Congress to act.
He did, however, leave himself an opening in his Saturday radio address to pivot toward support for gun control legislation.
"As a nation, we have endured far too many of these tragedies in the last few years. An elementary school in Newtown. A shopping mall in Oregon. A house of worship in Wisconsin. A movie theater in Colorado. Countless street corners in places like Chicago and Philadelphia," he said. "Any of these neighborhoods could be our own. So, we have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this. Regardless of the politics."
