WASHINGTON — Democrats’ chances at serious gun-control legislation are shot, Republicans said yesterday.
Key measures of President Obama’s plan to attack gun violence in America — such as an assault-weapons ban — will have difficulty even getting through a Democratic Senate, said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).
“I don’t think [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid even brings it to the Senate floor because he has six Democrats up for re-election in two years in states where the president received fewer than 42 percent of the votes. . . ,” Barrasso said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Yet White House adviser David Plouffe said the administration can cobble up the votes in the Senate and House for other measures, such as restrictions on high capacity gun magazines and universal background checks. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) promised that Congress will be facing serious background-check proposals in two weeks.
“We don’t expect it all to pass, or in its current form, but we think there’s elements of this that are absolutely critical,” Plouffe said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) warned Obama about sending too broad of a package to Washington, though he said he would entertain some provisions such as background checks.
“You have to come up with a real proposal, present it to the Congress, and have it done in a realistic way,” Blunt said. “So, this is not a Republican versus Democrat thing, this is a what can reasonably be done?”
Newly elected Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) accused Obama of exploiting last month’s massacre of 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn.
“This isn’t designed to solve violent crime,” Cruz said of Obama’s plan on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “This is designed to assuage liberal partisans.”
“To not talk about guns when it comes to gun violence is to not talk about smoking when it comes to lung cancer,” Schumer said on “Meet the Press.”