Senate GOP Considers Gun Control Measures — But Not At Cost Of Cutting Short Vacation

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25: (L-R) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) address reporters following their weekly policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, September 25, 2... WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25: (L-R) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) address reporters following their weekly policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, September 25, 2018 in Washington, DC. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, has agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) held a call with three chairman and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to seriously talk gun control measures — but not so seriously as to consider cutting short the August recess to come back to work.

According to a CNN report, at no point during the call did the Republicans consider an early return to vote on Democrats’ background check bill, which has already passed the House.

Instead, the five men — also including Sen. health committee chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. judiciary committee chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. commerce committee chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) — considered ways that they could bring to life the supposed catalysts for gun violence that President Donald Trump mentioned in his remarks Tuesday.

Those included violent video games and mental health problems. Trump also cited red flag laws, a measure which has been adopted by several states.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Never, ever cut the vacation short. Just shows this is still not important to them and will never be.
    Hoping after all the anti-McConnell attention and Mitch’s little boo boo, this nasty piece of work will decide not to run.

  2. Why rush back to do nothing? They can do nothing and play golf at the same time.

  3. A little delay, some new outrage from the president, and we can get back to bullets-as-usual. It’s worked for years.

  4. “Mitch McConnell (R-KY) held a call with three chairman and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to seriously talk gun control measures …”

    “How do we best do nothing of substance this time, but still market it as though we really care? Should we use the same old strategy we always do, or do we need to add something to the rhetoric this time?”

    Serious stuff.

  5. Avatar for docd docd says:

    My guess is that they’ll work on some toothless red flag law and threaten video games. The video game debate will be reminiscent of the comic book hysteria of the 50’s. They’re going to try to make video games the moral panic that can take people’s attention away from the racism and white nationalism that is their actual platform.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

26 more replies

Participants

Avatar for discobot Avatar for sedonaz Avatar for ajm Avatar for sysprog Avatar for fargo116 Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for borisjimbo Avatar for riverstreet Avatar for gajake Avatar for docd Avatar for guysmiley Avatar for ljb860 Avatar for rickjones Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for swell Avatar for uneducated Avatar for coimmigrant Avatar for seamus42 Avatar for zillacop Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for c_stedman

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: