With Congress poised to address gun control as early as this week, President Obama returned to Connecticut on Monday to deliver an impassioned speech aimed at mobilizing public support for the cause — and shaming the Republican senators who are on record threatening to filibuster legislation to address gun violence.
“Some folks back in Washington are already floating the idea that they might use political stunts to prevent votes on any of these reforms,” Obama told the crowd, which included families of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. “Think about that. They’re not just saying they’ll vote ‘no’ on ideas that almost all Americans support. They’re saying they won’t allow any votes on these provisions. They’re saying your opinion doesn’t matter. And that’s not right.”
The crowd broke into chants of, “We want a vote!”
Speaking in Hartford — a city near Newtown, where the tragic elementary school shooting took place last December — the president also pushed back on the beltway narrative that frames the debate in political terms.
“I’ve also heard some in the Washington press suggest that what happens to gun violence legislation in Congress this week will either be a political victory or defeat for me. You know what? Connecticut, this is not about me. This is not not about politics,” he said. “This is about doing the right thing for families like yours that have been torn apart by gun violence, and families going forward.”
As Obama was speaking, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) became the fifteenth Republican to pledge to filibuster Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) gun bill — an effort that is being led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
“Sen. McConnell opposes the Reid bill,” his spokesman Don Stewart told TPM. “While nobody knows yet what Sen. Reid’s plan is for the gun bill, if he chooses to file cloture on the motion to proceed to the Reid bill, Sen. McConnell will oppose cloture on proceeding to that bill.”
The president’s speech is the third he’s delivered in the last two weeks aiming to reinvigorate the cause after it has faltered in Congress. Proposals to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips are all but dead — though they’re expected to receive separate votes. And even mandatory background checks, which has the support of nine in 10 Americans, faces an uphill climb to 60 Senate votes.
But Senate Democrats, who face skittishness among their own red-state members up for reelection, are looking for Republican support wherever they can find it. They’re currently in discussions with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) for a compromise on background checks, after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) backed away from bipartisan negotiations with Democrats. Leaders prefer not to bring legislation to the floor until a deal is reached.
A CNN poll released Monday found that 52 percent disapproved of how Obama was handling the gun policy debate, as compared to 45 percent who approved. His approval/disapproval on the issue was 46-49 percent in the same poll in January.
Obama — who championed robust gun control as a state legislator in Illinois but didn’t touch the cause until after his reelection — now sees a narrow window to either accomplish something significant or let the opportunity slip. He praised new laws enacted by New York, Colorado, Maryland and Connecticut to curb gun violence and implored Congress to follow them.
“I know many of you in Newtown wondered if the rest of us would live up to the promises we made in those dark days — if we’d change, too,” Obama said. “If you’re an American who wants to do something to prevent more families from knowing the immeasurable anguish that these families know, now is the time to act. Now is the time to get engaged, to get involved, to push back on fear, frustration, and misinformation. Now is the time to make your voice heard from every state house to the corridors of Congress.”
