In the wake of the Florida shooting, calls for reform have grown louder but legislation has again stalled. Why can’t Congress get it right?

Three weeks after 17 people were in killed in a massacre at a high school in Parkland, Congress is once again paralyzed over how to respond.

Republicans are pushing for swift action on measures that would enhance school safety in an effort to calm public outrage fueled by the student survivors of the Stoneman Douglas shooting.

'It's safer than chess': the high school shooting clubs standing their ground after Parkland Read more

Democrats, meanwhile, are working to amplify that anger, determined that the immense pressure on lawmakers will finally break the decades-long gridlock over guns in Washington and produce meaningful firearms reforms.

Democrats are looking forward to a nationwide protest on 24 March, when hundreds of thousands of activists are expected to march against gun violence in Washington and dozens of other cities. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, announced this week that Democrats would wait to force action on gun legislation until after the rally, “when our Republican friends see they are just against the nation”.

A majority of the public believe the Parkland students are effective advocates for gun control, according to a new Monmouth University poll released on Thursday. And 57% of the respondents said the students were having more of an impact on the gun debate than the victims of previous mass shootings.

“This time, the gun rights crowd messed with the wrong community, the wrong kids and the wrong dad,” Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed at Stoneman Douglas, said during a hearing in Washington this week. He added: “I have dedicated the rest of my life to fighting for the cause of gun safety.”

Guns remains one of the most divisive issues in US politics despite the groundswell of activism, and polls showing stronger public support for controls since the shooting.

The inaction from Congress so far reflects the dim political reality of passing meaningful reform.

During a meeting last month at the White House, Donald Trump upended the debate by embracing gun control measures long opposed by Republicans and the NRA. He later met representatives of the NRA and appeared to dial back his support. This week, Trump met critics of violent video games and game-makers: Trump has suggested that violence in video games may play a role in school shootings. Researchers say there is little evidence to support the claim.

With fresh urgency and growing numbers, advocates of stricter gun control have renewed calls for restrictions on gun purchases, including expanding background checks for firearm purchases online and at gun shows, banning assault-style weapons, restricting high-capacity magazine and raising the minimum age to buy an assault weapon from 18 to 21. They have also lobbied for measures that would allow authorities to remove guns from individuals deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others.

Senate Democrats this week demanded legislation that would close “loopholes” in the background check system, requiring verification on firearms sales at gun shows and over the internet.

Play Video 0:44 Florida students on gun control: ‘We won't stop until we get change’ – video

They have also urged that Republican leaders allow Congress to debate whether to ban semi-automatic weapons like the ones used in the Florida shooting – a proposal that divides Democrats.

As legislation stalled this week, Senate Democrats held an emotional hearing with survivors and family members of those killed in the February shooting, who implored “weak-kneed” politicians to act. Later, students staged a sit-in outside Mitch McConnell’s office in Washington. They chanted “Enough is enough” and “Not one more”.

Republicans, meanwhile, rushed to bring forward a clutch of bills devoted to school safety in an effort to calm mounting public frustration.

On Thursday, the Republican senator Lindsey Graham and his Democratic colleague Richard Blumenthal unveiled the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Act, which would allow courts to intervene to temporarily restrain potentially harmful individuals from possessing or purchasing a gun.

The legislation is modeled after so-called “red-flag” laws that exist in a handful of states. Florida senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson introduced a related bill earlier this week, which would encourage states – using federal grants – to adopt such laws at the state and local level.

Meanwhile, Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, introduced legislation that would provide funding to states to improve security and boost technology designed to stop violence in schools. The House is expected to vote on a version of this bill next week.

But it remains to be seen if any of the legislation could clear the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. The one exception appears to the the bipartisan bill, sponsored by John Cornyn, the No 2 Senate Republican, that would incentivize public agencies to improve reporting to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Checks System. The Senate bill, known as Fix Nics, a version of which has already passed the House, has 61 co-sponsors as of Friday.

Democrats broadly support the measure but argue that alone it is woefully inadequate to address the demands of students and gun control advocates.

Cornyn on Thursday blamed Democrats for stalling immediate action on the bill, though at least one Republican senator has objected to fast-tracking the legislation.

“I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that the United States Senate has done nothing, nothing, to prevent them from happening in the future,” he said.

But those measures are unlikely to satisfy Democrats and activists, who have accused Republicans of focusing on mental health to avoid addressing the real threat, which they say is the proliferation of “weapons of war” in daily American life.

Schumer said this week that the day of action will have “huge effect” on Republican lawmakers, who he believes will be pressured to make at least some concessions on gun control. “Their time has come,” he said.