Geoff: As the nation mourns the
victims of mass shootings in
Tulsa, uvalde, and Buffalo,
president Biden will address the
nation tonight and urge congress
to pass common sense gun laws.
A bipartisan group of senators
continued conversations this
week to figure out what, if
anything, can gain the required
60 votes to pass.
And today, the house judiciary
committee considered its own
slate of proposals.
The committee's top Democrat and
Republican disagreed sharply
over the issue.
>> Too soon, my friends?
What the hell are you waiting
for?
You say that none of the
solutions proposed here will
stop gun violence in America?
Well there, sadly, I agree.
This bill will not alone save
every life we will lose to gun
violence this year.
But it will save some.
>> This bill would not stop the
terrible events, it wouldn't
harden schools, but it will sure
take away the rights of the
American people who follow the
law.
That's what this is all about.
Geoff: Leigh Ann Caldwell is
anchor for Washington post live
and co-author of the early 202
newsletter.
She's been following the debate
in congress and joins me now.
It is good to have you here with
us.
In the house judiciary
committee, they are considering
what is really this mega bill,
eight pieces of legislation
wrapped into one.
Does everything from raising the
age to purchase semi automatic
weapons to 21, it requires
background checks for ghost
guns, among other things.
But nowhere on this list is an
assault weapons ban.
Why not?
Leigh Ann: Because my sources
tell me it doesn't have the
votes, even in a democratic
majority in the house of
representatives.
Even in the house it does not
have the votes.
The bill has 207 cosponsors.
It needs 218, Democrats most
likely, to pass.
There's a number of people who
are not signed onto this bill
and I am told by readership
aides they are struggling to
find those additional democratic
votes to reach that 218.
Speaker Pelosi announced today
in a letter to her colleagues
she is going to hold a hearing
on an assault weapons ban.
That does not mean she will
bring it to the floor.
Geoff: On a parallel track and
the senate have senator Chris
Murphy, who came to congress
representing the Newtown
community.
He is leading this bipartisan
effort, and they are focused on
what I am told is a fairly
narrow set of gun reforms.
Red flag laws, which William
just told us about, expanding
background checks, adding
funding for mental health
services for school security.
Are there 10 Republican votes in
the senate based on your
reporting to get that ultimately
to the president's desk?
Leigh Ann: There are a number of
Republicans involved in these
negotiations so theoretically if
they come to an agreement with
someone like senator Cornyn, who
is very close with leadership,
senator Toomey perhaps, Lindsey
graham, then presumably they
would have the 10 votes.
I do not think they would
announce an agreement unless
they did, but we will see.
But let's be clear, these things
they are talking about, they are
kind of around the edges.
They are not going to address
raising the age of assault
weapons.
It is not a lot of gun
restrictions.
What it is trying to do is just
put some safeguards around the
opportunity to purchase guns
with these red flag laws,
perhaps incentivizing states to
strengthen red flag laws.
As far as the mental health
component is concerned,
something Republicans are really
focused on, it is not really
clear what they are going to do
about that.
Saying mental health is the
problem is one thing.
Legislating that is a whole
other issue.
Geoff: Help us understand Mitch
Mcconnell's role in all this.
Early on he encouraged John
Cornyn, the Texas Republican, to
work with Democrats to find some
compromise here.
This is the same become a can
party leader who in the past has
blocked a number of gun reforms
to include red flag laws, which
even senators asked senator
Marco Rubio supported.
He introduced two pieces of
legislation onto the floor and
never got a vote under Mitch
Mcconnell's leadership.
Is this a change of heart?
Help us understand his
reasoning.
Leigh Ann: A lot of Democrats
especially are skeptical about
what leader Mcconnell is saying.
Some people think he has put
John Cornyn into these
negotiations to make sure there
is not a really impactful
legislation or agreement that
comes to the floor.
Something that is very minor
that does not really do that
much.
The other thing that you have to
think about would leader
Mcconnell, as you well know, is
that everything is calculated in
what is going to win him back
his majority.
The midterm elections are just
five months away, and so he
reads the polls better than
anyone else.
He has a lot of inside
information.
He will do nothing that harms
his members that are trying to
be Democrats.
So he is deciding, he is making
this decision on what he is
saying based on what the polling
is saying at this moment.
Whether that translates into
actual legislation that is going
to pass, we will see.
But over the past couple days in
Kentucky, leader Mcconnell has
kind of defined what the realms
of this is.
He said this is not gun
restrictions, this is not gun
laws, it is school safety and
mental health.
And that is much different than
something like red flag laws,
than background checks.
Geoff: Thank you so much for