Sen. Bob Casey's bill would stop those convicted of a hate crime from buying a gun. | Getty Congress Republicans on hot seat over gun control Senate Democrats are pressing for another vote to bar suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms.

Congressional Democrats are wasting little time putting Republicans on the hot seat after the massacre in Orlando, Florida, demanding that recalcitrant GOP lawmakers join their effort to bar suspected terrorists from buying guns or face the political fallout.

Senate Democrats said Monday they will revive legislation that would allow the FBI to deny firearm purchases by people on terrorism watch lists, a proposal that failed in December on a mostly party-line vote, 45-54. Democrats said they will try to attach the new firearm prohibitions to the Commerce, Justice and Science spending bill that will be on the Senate floor this week.


House Democrats will join in the new legislative push, but top House Republicans predicted the measure would go nowhere.

“It has the same structural flaws as it did before,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the chief deputy majority whip, of the Democratic proposal. “The issue is us getting tough on the radicalization of our people and our allowing right now the flow of immigrants into this country without sifting through whether they have any ties to these terrorist organizations.”

McHenry said Democrats are conflating the issue of gun control — which the overwhelming majority of Hill Republicans oppose — with responding to “lone wolf” terrorist attacks by U.S. citizens.

“The greater debate about gun control should be a greater debate about gun control,” McHenry added. “There are bigger issues than simply playing politics with guns.”

On Monday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy convened the “terrorism task force” created by Republicans following the 2015 terror attacks in Paris. The group includes the chairmen of the panels with oversight on terrorism-related issues.

McCarthy noted the House passed several bills dealing with radicalization of U.S. citizens but said the Senate had not acted on those measures. The California Republican said GOP leaders may combine all those bills in one package — plus some new legislation — and send it to the Senate.

But like McHenry, the No. 2 House Republican showed little interest in the Democrats’ gun ban.

“We went through this whole argument about the ‘no-fly list’ and the failures within there,” McCarthy told reporters, noting that it would not have prevented the Orlando massacre. “I want to look on things that solve this, not put politics on this.”

House members will receive a classified briefing Tuesday afternoon on shooting from FBI Director James Comey, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and National Counterterrorism Center Director Nick Rasmussen, Ryan’s office announced. Senators will receive a briefing Wednesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Monday.

For his part, McConnell could move to block another vote on the Democratic proposal in that chamber. But if the Senate does hold a vote, Democrats won’t be shy about going after vulnerable Republican senators who oppose the measure.

“We believe we’ll do better than we did last time,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “Circumstances are going to force them to see the light.”

The legislation has become a key plank of Democrats’ anti-terrorism agenda, which they believe will put a half-dozen vulnerable incumbent senators on the wrong side of voters. Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois was the lone Republican to support the proposal six months ago.

“Closing this loophole is just common sense. It’s the least we can do to prevent terrorist attacks by our country,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). “I don’t know what it will take to change the mind-set of this Congress.”

It’s not clear whether any of the Democratic proposals would have prevented the alleged shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, from buying weapons. Forty-nine people were killed and dozens more injured in the attack. Law enforcement authorities killed Mateen.

“Would they have blocked Mateen’s gun? I think it’s likely they would have, but we will never know because it wasn’t on the books,” Schumer said of the terrorism watch-list proposal.





Mateen was on a federal watch list but was later removed, according to the Los Angeles Times. Officials said Sunday that he had been interviewed twice by the FBI in 2013 for allegedly making “inflammatory comments” to co-workers that implied he had terrorism ties.

Senate Republicans have an alternative bill that would prevent a gun purchase from going through if the government can prove “probable cause” that the purchaser is plotting terrorism. That legislation also failed last year, with the support of 53 senators. Any such proposal will need 60 votes to advance in the chamber.

Hillary Clinton called for an assault weapons ban on Monday, though that legislation would be trickier politically for Democrats, who have a host of senators up for reelection in conservative states in 2018. Schumer would not rule out pushing for a vote on the ban but said the terrorism watch-list proposal is more applicable to the Orlando killings.

Mateen reportedly was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and a pistol during the attack, and law enforcement officials said at a news conference Monday that a third firearm in his vehicle had been found.

As they move to put vulnerable incumbents like Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) on the hot seat, the Democratic campaign committees are also expected to carefully handle the optics of the post-Orlando political strategy carefully, seeking to avoid any perception of exploiting the tragedy for electoral gain.

Senate Democrats are, however, moving more quickly than Republicans in proposing legislative responses to the shootings. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is introducing legislation that would prevent people with misdemeanor hate-crime convictions from owning firearms.

“If you have proven you will commit criminal acts based on hate, you absolutely should not have access to a gun. It’s common sense,” Casey said at a news conference in Pittsburgh on Monday.

Companion legislation has already been introduced in the House by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.).

Casey’s bill would toughen current federal law barring people convicted of a felony from purchasing or owning a gun by applying those same restrictions to those who have been found guilty of misdemeanor hate crimes.





Authorities are still investigating the motivations that possibly drove Mateen to open fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning, but officials have said Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a 911 call during the massacre. Meanwhile, Mateen’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen, said in an interview with NBC News that his son became “very angry” when he saw two men kissing in Miami.

