WASHINGTON (AP) – The first attempt by Democrats to respond to mass shootings in Buffalo, Texas, and Waldale failed Thursday in the Senate when Republicans blocked a domestic terrorism bill that opened debate on crimes caused by ‘hate . And gun safety.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Sumer, DN.Y. I tried to pass Republicans a domestic terrorism bill. The house was cleaned last week after a massive shooting took place in Buffalo, New York, a grocery store and church in Southern California that they targeted blacks. He said it could be the basis for negotiations.
But the vote almost failed on the party line, which has aroused new suspicions of a heated debate on gun safety measures, not to mention a final compromise.
“None of us are under any illusion, it’s going to be easy,” Sumer said before the vote.
The rejection of the bill greatly facilitated the spread of widespread hunting in the United States, where the Senate has taken an unusual stance on fighting violence, passing hunting laws in Buffalo and California that to date still have not. missing. Another massacre, this time at an elementary school in Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
Sumer said he would hold two weeks of talks in the Senate of the two parties-in the next 10 days before Congress recesses-to try to draft a compromise bill that could pass the Senate 50-50, where 60 votes will be needed. . Overcome Filibaster.
A small bipartisan group of senators who have been trying to negotiate gun law for years met in the Capitol on Wednesday night. But so far there seems to be no appetite for a big change among Republicans. Sumer acknowledged Democrats ’“ deep skepticism ”about reaching an agreement.
“I hope there will be growing momentum,” said Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Who is leading the talks. “But I’ve lost many times before.”
It’s Murphy’s Push It Works Gun law that has been enforced since the 2012 attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 children and six caregivers.
Democrats ’best hope for a legislative partner may be Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who pushed for a moderate bill during the Trump era after the 2017 shooting at a devastating church in his state to protect conditions. initial weapons.
Cornyn said she and Murphy have been in touch and talking about these issues for a long time trying to find a compromise. “Maybe it was an impulse,” he said of Uvalde’s attack.
However, Cornyn warns that “restricting the rights of law -abiding citizens will not make our communities or our country safer.
Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Told reporters that the bill he has been working on over the past decade to expand background checks on the sale of firearms still lacks enough support to move forward in the Senate. “I can’t count 60 at this point,” he said, “but we’ll get there.”
It becomes smaller and more likely.
One of the hallmarks of the Republican Party’s resistance to the arms policy debate, several Republican senators arrived on Thursday to discuss other topics: immigration, border security and, in the case of Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell , the country’s struggle against inflation.
The failed domestic terrorism bill on Thursday was built in 2017, when it was first proposed by lawmaker Brad Schneider after the shootings in Las Vegas and South Springs, Texas.
The House passed a similar measure with a vote in 2020, but lost it to the Senate. Because Republicans opposed the bill, only one MP in the House last week supported it.
“That two years ago there was widespread bipartisan support, because of the political climate we were in … or, more precisely, because of the political climate in which Republicans found themselves, not we can combat local terrorism, ”Schneider said. , who took office after the Sandy Hook school shooting, in The Associated Press.
Republicans say the bill is not focused enough on the fight against domestic terrorism perpetrated by far -left groups. Under the bill, agencies would have to prepare a joint report every six months that evaluates and counts threats posed by local terrorism across the country, including threats posed by whites and neo-Nazis. and group.
Supporters say the bill will fill intelligence -sharing gaps between the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to help officials better monitor and respond to the growing threat of white extremist terrorism.
These attempts focused on propagating racist ideologies such as Replacement Theory, which led investigators to say the 18-year-old white gunman was motivated to drive three hours to perform a live racist that hunt two weeks ago at a crowded supermarket in Buffalo. Or a church riot in Taiwan at a church in Laguna Woods, California, that resulted in the death of a man and five others injured in the shooting the next day.
Although Schneider acknowledged that his law may not have prevented these attacks, he said it would ensure these federal agencies work together to better identify, anticipate and stop threats.
Under current law, three federal agencies are already working to investigate acts of domestic terrorism, deterrence and prosecution. But the bill would require each agency to open offices specifically dedicated to these tasks and establish an inter-agency working group to fight for white supremacy in the military.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul criticized this aspect of the bill, calling it an “insult to all police in this country” and an “insult to everyone in our military.”
The proposal would continue to create new federal provisions necessary to justify local terrorism as well as attacks inspired by U.S.-led foreign groups. It will not create new crimes or new lists of defined internal terrorist groups. And it won’t give law enforcement any additional power to investigate.
But supporters say it is important to assist the government in comprehensively assessing, for the first time, the extent of terrorist attacks and threats within the country in the United States.
“Not only is it less feasible to directly combat the threat of domestic terrorism, but for me it’s like the first step,” said Mary McCord, a senior national security official in the Obama administration. The first is Trump.
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Mary Claire Jalonick contributed to this report.
Learn more about shooting in Waldo, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings
Source: Huffpost
