Senate to Vote Monday on Four Gun Control Measures
JUN 16 2016, 6:20 PM ET
Senate to Vote Monday on Four Gun Control Measures
by ALEX MOE and ALEX JOHNSON
The Senate will vote on four gun control measures Monday after being prodded by a 15-hour filibuster in the wake of the shooting massacre at a Florida nightclub.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, filed cloture motions Thursday on four gun-related amendments to a spending bill, a day after Democrats ended their filibuster to force some sort of action on gun restrictions.
"Cloture" is a parliamentary procedure that starts the clock on 30 hours of debate before a vote.
The amendments — two filed by Dianne Feinstein, D-California, and Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, two other, less restrictive measures filed by Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and John Cornyn, R-Texas — would address provisions regulating background checks of prospective gun buyers and the sale of guns and explosives to people on government terrorist watch lists.
The votes Monday would be a rarity in the Senate, where Republicans have blocked gun control measures for many years. They would need 60 votes to pass — more votes than there are Democrats in the Senate, meaning there is a very high hurdle to surmount.
But they are likely to be important symbolically as an expression of possible movement on guns after Democrats led by Chris Murphy of Connecticut took to the floor for 15 hours Wednesday to demand action after 49 people plus the gunman were killed Sunday at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
The weapons used by the gunman, Omar Mateen, were legally purchased.
"I've had enough. I've had enough of the ongoing slaughter of innocents, and I've had enough of inaction in this body," Murphy said during the filibuster Wednesday. Many of his Democratic colleagues took turns echoing his sentiments.
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The National Rifle Association warned its members this week that the measures would threaten fundamental constitutional protections of the right to own firearms.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/orl...asures-n594006
