Yesterday senators were working on a ultra weak-tea gun safety proposal. The Republicans are attempting to give way on as little as possible-- no assault weapons ban nor even an increase of the age limit of who can buy them-- while the Democrats are willing to take whatever crumbs the Republicans permit. The bipartisan group of senators is making a dramatic show over "negotiations," but everyone already knows that nothing useful is coming out of this. On a scale between zero and 100, it is unlikely to get to 5. In yesterday's Washington Post, Mike DeBonis played along: "The calls for patience came as a small bipartisan group of senators continues delicate talks [LOL] on a legislative package that could include the first significant [LOL] new federal gun restrictions in three decades, along with provisions dealing with school security and mental health. But they are fighting a tide of recent history demonstrating that Congress’s appetite for action tends to quickly fade as tragedies such as the killings in Buffalo and Uvalde last month fade from the headlines."
Schumer, pathetic as always, wants something he can pass off as a "win," even if it isn't: "This issue is too important not to do everything we can to find a bipartisan way forward,” he said. “We’re giving [Republicans] the opportunity, the chance, to say yes-- we’re ready and eager to find common ground on something that can actually help address gun violence."
John Cornyn is the chief negotiator for the Republicans and he's auditioning to be party leader when McConnell leaves. Today he said: "Good consensus legislation takes time. My goal is to achieve a result. And the only way we can do that, the only way we can get a bill that will pass both chambers and earn the president’s signature, is by taking the time and reaching that consensus."
DeBonis got serious for a moment and noted that "More far-reaching measures that Biden has endorsed-- such as an assault weapons ban, restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines and expansions of background checks to cover private gun sales-- are not on the table, the senators said. But the use of federal grants encouraging states to adopt 'red flag' laws meant to keep guns out of the hands of potential shooters is under discussion, as is a system to potentially screen gun buyers under 21 for juvenile offenses and mental health episodes. A proposal that could create a federal minimum age of 21 for rifle buyers, matching the current law for handgun buyers, has not been formally ruled out but is unlikely to make it into a final package, several senators involved in the talks said."
The House begins debating 2 bills Sunday that will ever get 10 Republican senators in a million years-- and probably will lose some Blue Dog NRA freaks in the House. One of the bills creates a federal red-flag law and the other is "a package of legislation that includes a minimum age of 21 for semiautomatic rifle purchases and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, among other provisions. Those bills, however, have no hope of passing the Senate, where a united minority of Republicans can block legislation because of the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster rule... On the Republican side, the negotiators are battling fierce skepticism among rank-and-file senators, who argue that new restrictions would simply impede law-abiding Americans while doing little to prevent gun violence."
Kevin Cramer (R-ND) who told a reporter last week that if he votes for any gun restrictions his constituents will fire him, tried to pretend he's slightly more dignified and less craven that that and told DeBonis that "We have an amendment, a Second Amendment, that guarantees the right [to purchase firearms]. And I just don’t see how you say, well, except if you’re in this category of age… I just think, you turn 18, you have the right-- all the rights afforded adults."
And speaking of morons... Marjorie Traitor Greene weighed in, snarling at Lindsey Graham for saying he's open to going all the way, even banning assault weapons! This is what Greene flipped out over:
Georgia QAnon lunatic: "There’s a lot of gun owners in South Carolina, and they are not going to be very happy with the senator that they elected and sent to Washington, D.C., to represent their values, to defend their freedoms, and protect their gun rights and uphold the Constitution. They’re not going to like it very much when he’s up here helping Joe Biden pass his communist agenda and go ahead and destroy their Second Amendment rights... [He] wants to make sure that your tax dollars are helping people in Ukraine to defend themself, but he stands ready to vote for all of Joe Biden’s gun control bills."