While deadly mass shootings like those in Texas and Ohio regularly shock America’s psyche and prompt calls for tougher gun-control laws, the Senate has balked at even considering two House bills that would strengthen background checks for gun buyers.

The Democrat-controlled House in February passed a pair of bills seeking to expand background checks — but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to even schedule floor debates on the measures, let alone votes.

One bill, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, passed largely along party lines 240-190, and would mandate background checks for all gun purchases, including private firearms transactions made at gun shows or through the Internet.

The bill carves out some exceptions, including not requiring checks for sales or transfers between close relatives.

A weapon could also be loaned to someone to use at a shooting range or for hunting and trapping, unless there’s a reason to suspect the gun will be used in a crime or if the person getting the gun is barred from possessing weapons under state or federal laws.

Current federal law requires customers at licensed firearms dealers to fill out a federal form with their personal information to submit to a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The firearms dealer starts an on-the-spot FBI background check by phone or by the internet that typically clears the buyer within minutes.

This background check system has been in place since 1998 but does not apply to all gun sales, including those between private individuals and purchases at gun shows from dealers who do not have federal licenses to deal firearms.

Some of the loopholes have been deadly.

The background check database has relied on the good will of states and government entities to voluntarily submit records on those prohibited from buying guns.

But independent and government watchdog reports have long shown that states have spotty records on turning over data on individuals with serious mental illnesses, drug abusers and more.

The most glaring omission happened in connection to the 2017 Sutherland Springs church massacre that killed 26 people.

The shooter was able to buy guns legally despite having a court-martial guilty plea for domestic violence.

The Air Force failed to enter the conviction into the criminal background check database that could have blocked him from buying firearms.

Congress responded by passing the Fix NICS Act, sponsored by Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn, to better ensure government agencies and states report information that would disqualify someone from buying a gun.

Political appointees would lose bonus pay if their federal agencies fail to upload records.

And states that best comply with uploading NICS data would be rewarded with federal grant preferences and incentives.

President Trump signed the legislation into law on March 23, 2018 as part of a $1.3 trillion spending package that averted a government shutdown.

So far, federal agency submissions have increased about 400 percent, but the Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security still are withholding some records, Cornyn and other senate sponsors said in a letter earlier this year to Attorney General William Barr.

Trump has shown support for so-called red flag laws – and reiterated his backing Monday — that would allow law enforcement and family members to petition courts to take away guns or prevent sales from people who may be a danger to themselves or others.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump alley and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday he’ll soon introduce bipartisan legislation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to encourage states to pass red flag laws. They envision a grant program to incentivize law enforcement agencies to hire and consult with mental health professionals to determine when to act.

“I spoke with the President this morning about this proposal and he seems very supportive,” Graham said Monday.

A second bill, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019, passed in the House 228 to 198, and would extend the period the feds have to finish a background checks before any gun sale can go through to 10 days.

Under current law, if a check isn’t completed in three business days, the transaction can automatically go forward.

It’s designed to close the so-called “Charleston loophole” that allowed the killer in the 2015 shooting at Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina to purchase a gun that killed nine black worshipers.

In the church shooting, there was a delay beyond three days, so shooter Dylann Roof was able to get a handgun, despite a drug conviction.

The National Rifle Association opposes both bills, and the White House has said before the weekend’s carnage that Trump, who has the strong backing of the NRA, would veto the bill, should it reach his desk.

There have also been efforts to revive the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that went into effect in 1994, though it expired 10 years later.

The law banned the manufacture, sale, and possession of some military-style assault weapons, including the AR-15, similar to those used in the weekend bloodbaths in Texas and Ohio.

Some studies found that the assault weapon ban cut the number of mass shootings during the decade it existed.

After the ban expired, Democrats tried to renew it but were thwarted by the GOP, which argued that it violated the Second Amendment.

The efforts included a proposal from then-President Obama to restore the ban after the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in 2012, but the Senate blocked the move.

The Trump administration has also issued a regulatory ban on bump-stocks that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns, such as the weapons used in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting that killed 58 and wounded more than 400.

While individual states can pass their own gun-control laws, the lack of nationwide regulations has prompted intense debate in recent years, as guns bought in states with lax laws regularly wind up in the hands of killers in states with tough laws.