(NewsGlobal.com)- Senate Democrats wasted no time last week pushing forward with new gun control measures to give their base the impression that they were “doing something” about “gun violence” in the wake of last week’s mass murder in Uvalde, Texas.
And on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell asked Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn to work with Democrats Chris Murphy and Kyrsten Sinema to “find a consensus on some legislation to respond to the shooting in Texas.”
Unsurprisingly, Republican voters weren’t particularly pleased.
But from what McConnell said, it may not be the betrayal some Republican voters think it is.
McConnell admitted encouraging Cornyn to speak with Murphy, Sinema, and others, but added the caveat “who are interested in trying to get an outcome that’s directly related to the problem.”
“Directly related” doesn’t describe a single measure the Democrats are pushing.
McConnell repeated the phrase, saying he was hopeful the Senate could reach a “bipartisan solution that’s directly related to the facts of this awful massacre.”
For the Democrats, the point isn’t to enact legislation restricting the 2nd Amendment; the point is to be seen talking about enacting new restrictions on the 2nd Amendment. They want the talking point heading into the Midterm elections.
Even Senator Murphy admitted as much last week.
Murphy told CNN that the voters will get to decide this. They can ask the candidates running in November if they support “universal background checks,” and banning 18-year-olds from buying “military-style assault weapons.” And if the candidates don’t support those measures, “then don’t send them back to Congress.”
McConnell may be loathed by many in the Republican base for his lack of fealty to former President Donald Trump. But at the end of the day, if there is anyone who understands how the Senate Democrats operate, it is Mitch McConnell.
With President Biden out there demanding Congress reinstate the so-called “assault weapons ban” that would restrict the sale of the single most popular firearm in the country, McConnell knows that the Democrats in the Senate are wary about actually holding a vote on any gun control measures before the November election.
