Congressional Republicans reject calls for tighter gun restrictions in wake of Florida shooting

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump: I would have run into school during shooting even without a gun Meeting with the nation's governors, President Trump once again criticized the Parkland school's deputy for inaction, claiming had he been there he would have run inside. Nathan Rousseau Smith has the story.

WASHINGTON – Republican leaders in Congress rejected calls for tighter gun restrictions Tuesday despite an in-person pitch from Florida high school students leading a newly energized gun control movement.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans would focus on law enforcement failures, not tighter gun control, in the wake of the latest mass shooting, which left 17 children and educators dead at a Florida school Feb. 14.

"There was a colossal breakdown in the system," Ryan, R-Wis., said at a news conference. He cited inaction by a deputy stationed outside the school and tips called in to federal and local law enforcement officials about the alleged shooter, Nikolas Cruz, which raised concerns that the 19-year-old planned such a rampage.

Students who survived the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., met with lawmakers across the Capitol — including in a 20-minute closed-door meeting with the speaker and an emotional session with House Democrats.

The students-turned-activists have called for a ban on assault weapons, a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips and wider background checks, among other steps. Many Democrats support those measures and said Congress should act to prevent another mass shooting.

“There’s no daylight between the Parkland students and really the overwhelming majority of the Democratic caucus," Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic caucus, said after the students spoke to the conference. "It was inspiring to have them here today. ... We took energy from each other. I think that was important.”

The students did not take questions from reporters Tuesday. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Democrat who represents the Florida district where the shooting occurred, said their message was simple:

"They don’t want to simply have a conversation. They want action taken to try to prevent what happened at their school from happening anyplace else," Deutch said after the meeting with Ryan.

Deutch said Ryan listened to what the students had to say, and the two sides "had a good discussion about the Constitution," including the Second Amendment. Deutch said the students "were more interested in understanding when these things could be brought to the floor."

"He expressed a willingness in moving quickly, at least where there is some consensus," Deutch said. "It’s unclear to me where that consensus is."

In a statement released Tuesday evening, Ryan said he was grateful to the students for sharing their story.

“They have just experienced incredible tragedy, and we had an important discussion about how to keep our kids and our schools safe," he said. "We will continue to work to find common ground on solutions that can help prevent the kind of senseless violence these students endured."

At his news conference earlier in the day, Ryan said gun control was not likely to be part of any legislative response to the shooting.

"We shouldn’t be banning guns for law-abiding citizens," the GOP leader said. "We should be focusing on making sure that citizens who should not get guns in the first place don’t get those guns."

Ryan and other Republicans touted a House-passed bill that would create incentives for states and federal agencies to upload more data to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS. The bill, called “Fix NICS,” has bipartisan support and came as a response to the mass shooting at a Texas church in November.

In that instance, the gunman's violent history would have precluded him from buying a gun, but authorities failed to report it to the federal background check system.

The House passed its version of Fix NICS in December, but GOP leaders combined that measure with a controversial bill to expand the right to carry concealed weapons, the top legislative priority of the National Rifle Association. Democrats called the concealed-carry measure a non-starter.

In the Senate, John Cornyn, R-Texas, an author of both measures, pushed for a vote on a stand-alone NICS bill.

“Let's do what we can immediately to pass Fix NICS and build from there,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Fix NICS bill would not be "a panacea but at least show some progress toward dealing with one element of the problem."

Democrats and gun control advocates said the NICS bill would not fix all the problems with the background check system, let alone curb gun violence.

"We want full debate," said Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York. "The students say Fix NICS is not enough, (and) the American people say Fix NICS is not enough."

Mark Kelly, the husband of ex-representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot at a constituent meeting in 2011 in Arizona, said the Fix NICS bill would be like putting a "step stool" in front of a 100-foot wall to climb over.

"It’s certainly better than doing nothing. It’s not fixing our background check system," said Kelly, a gun control advocate. Kelly and others said Congress needs to close a loophole that allows some buyers to evade background checks if they purchase firearms from private sellers.

Ryan declined to answer questions about whether he would support such legislation. He refused to say whether he would delink the NICS bill from the concealed-carry measure if it became clear that's all the Senate would accept.

"We’re waiting to see what the Senate can do," Ryan said. "We’ll discuss and cross that bridge when we get to it."

Ryan said he supported President Trump's call to arm teachers but not at the federal level.

"As a parent myself and as a citizen, I think it’s a good idea," Ryan said. "But as speaker of the House, I think we need to respect federalism and respect local jurisdictions."

Other Republicans dismissed another Trump proposal: raising the legal age for purchasing semiautomatic guns, from 18 to 21.

“I don’t see raising the age on guns being something that will find support on Capitol Hill," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.

Meadows said Congress may take some action on background checks, "but other than that, I think it’s really too early to tell the scope of the legislative efforts.”

Deutch said the Florida students were not going to let the gun control debate fade away.

"This isn’t the last time that they’re going to come to Washington," he said. "This isn’t the last time that they’re going to discuss these issues. It’s really just the beginning."

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Contributing: Nicole Gaudiano, Eliza Collins and Marilyn Icsman.