The Clock is Ticking for Democrats to Pass An Assault Weapons Ban

After back-to-back mass shootings this summer, including one in Texas that left 19 young children dead, lawmakers in Washington did something they hadn’t done in decades: They took real action on gun control, passing the most substantial federal gun safety legislation in 30 years. Now, after another spate of deadly shootings, Joe Biden and the Democrats are hoping to go even further. But lame duck politics, and a looming Republican House majority, could snarl their plans. “I’m glad that President Biden is gonna be pushing us to take a vote on an assault weapons ban,” Senator Chris Murphy, a leading proponent of gun control on Capitol Hill, told CNN on Sunday. “The House has already passed it. It’s sitting in front of the Senate. Does it have 60 votes in the Senate right now? Probably not.”

The renewed calls for reform come in the wake of mass shootings at an LGBTQ club in Colorado, a Walmart in Virginia, and a shopping center in Atlanta, the last of which claimed the life of a 12-year-old. These recent tragedies, on top of a deadly mass shooting at University of Virginia, have unfolded as an extraordinarily violent year in America comes to a close: As Forbes pointed out last week, the country has been rocked by at least 611 mass shootings in 2022, the second most in a single year this decade. (Last year saw the most, with 690.) Such grim statistics underscore the need for “greater action,” as Biden demanded in a statement after the Chesapeake Walmart shooting ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. “I’m sick and tired of these shootings,” Biden told reporters last week. “We should have much stricter gun laws.”

The president promised in those remarks that he would push for stronger enforcement of red flag laws and for an assault weapons ban like the one passed by the House of Representatives in July. “The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick,” Biden said. “It’s just sick. It has no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profits for gun manufacturers.”

Murphy, who led negotiations for the the bipartisan reform Biden signed in June, praised the president on Sunday for renewing his push, but acknowledged that any upcoming vote may be symbolic for now. “Let’s see if we can try to get that number as close to 60 as possible,” Murphy told CNN’s Dana Bash. “If we don’t have the votes, then we’ll talk to [Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer] and maybe come back next year, with maybe an additional senator, and see if we can do better.”

It’s unclear how many votes Senate Democrats could procure for gun control legislation; while several Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, voted in favor of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, they may not be so cooperative during the lame duck session. Democrats could expand their Senate majority, should Raphael Warnock prevail over Herschel Walker in the Georgia runoff election. But that would still leave them needing votes from nine of their GOP colleagues. 

In the meantime, Democrats could also potentially take action to ensure authorities are actually enforcing the current laws on the books. On Sunday, Murphy suggested withholding funding from counties that refuse to enforce federal gun laws. “That’s a growing problem in this country,” he said. “I think we’re gonna have to have a conversation about that in the United States Senate.” 

Suffice to say, the party’s ability to address America’s gun violence epidemic will be significantly hamstrung next year, when the new GOP-controlled House takes over. “Just simply passing more bills isn’t gonna solve the problem,” Republican Congressman James Comer—an ally of Kevin McCarthy, who will likely become the next House Speaker—told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Sunday, previewing the obstruction his party will indulge in once they take the gavel. Of course, Comer’s claim that gun laws don’t work isn’t true, as Todd pointed out in the interview. But the truth hasn’t stopped Republicans from standing in the way of common-sense reforms for decades, and it surely won’t when they hold control over the lower chamber in January. “This is something that Republicans hold close,” Comer said. “We’re going to continue to protect our Second Amendment rights.”