WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked bipartisan legislation that would have banned it come across shares after the Supreme Court imposed a ban about the rapid-fire weapon accessory used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
Democrats tried to force a voice vote on the bill to ban bump stocks, a tactic often used by both parties when they know they don’t have the votes to pass legislation but want to move an issue to the Senate . The bill, sponsored by Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would ban sales of the devices, similar to the rule issued by President Donald Trump’s administration after a A gunman in Las Vegas has attacked a country music festival in 2017 with semi-automatic rifles equipped with the accessories.
The gunman killed 58 people and injured more than 850 among the 22,000 people, firing more than 1,000 shots into the crowd in 11 minutes.
“I refuse to sit idly by and wait for the next mass shooting,” Heinrich said as he called for a Senate vote. “Bump stocks serve no legitimate purpose.”
Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska objected to Republicans and blocked an immediate vote on the bill. He called the legislation a “gun grab overreach,” which could be interpreted to include gun accessories other than bump stocks.
“This bill will not pass,” Ricketts said. “It won’t pass because enough people in this building still believe in the Constitution, and the Constitution gives Americans the right to own a firearm.”
According to the 6-3 majority opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Justice Department was wrong to declare that bump stocks transformed semiautomatic rifles into illegal machine guns because, he wrote, each rapid succession of depressions would still fires only one shot at a time.
The effort to enforce the legislation is part of a larger campaign by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to hold votes on issues that are priorities for Democrats and where they believe they have a political advantage even though they know it the bills will not do that. passage. Republicans have blocked legislation to protect access to it birth control And fertility treatments in vitro in recent weeks, arguing that Democrats are raising the issues only for political reasons. And Schumer announced this week that the Senate will vote in July on legislation that would restore the nation’s right to abortion after the Supreme Court. destroyed it almost two years ago.
The votes have put Republicans in a difficult position. In the case of bump stocks, many Republicans supported the ban when Trump issued it. But several people said this week they would oppose reintroducing the legislation, arguing that the vote is yet another election stunt by Democrats, rather than a serious effort to pass bipartisan legislation.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican who worked with Democrats on bipartisan gun legislation two years ago, said if Schumer was serious about banning bump stocks, “he would call people to a chamber who have worked on bipartisan bills.” but instead “it’s a political exercise, which is a shame.”
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican, criticized Schumer for a “summer of show votes” and for advancing bills that are “clearly designed to fail.”
Schumer responded on the floor that “it’s not enough for Republicans to roll their eyes and dismiss this stock vote as a ‘show vote.’ Tell that to the families who have lost loved ones.”
The messaging votes come as the Senate’s other business has stalled, with negotiations on legislation such as rail safety, farm programs, taxes and prescription drugs stalled during a contentious election year.
Schumer has said he may continue to bring bills up for repeat votes, along with a separate bipartisan immigration compromise that Republicans rejected earlier this year.
“Republicans don’t want to talk about it, but they’re going to have to vote on it,” Schumer said.
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Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.