Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Thursday said Senate Democrats will push for tighter background checks, new protective orders to disarm dangerous individuals, and a debate on banning semiautomatic, assault-style weapons in response to the recent Florida school shooting.
“Not every Democrat will agree with every piece, but my caucus is prepared to provide a very large number of votes to get these passed,” Mr. Schumer told reporters. “To get these things done, I’m not drawing any lines in the sand.”
He said lawmakers support expanding federal gun-purchase background checks to firearms sales conducted at gun shows and online. All federally licensed firearms dealers have to undergo the checks, but private sales are exempted.
“Not having background checks at gun shows is like checking IDs at the liquor store but not the bar — it makes no sense,” he said.
Mr. Schumer also said Democrats will push for protective court orders to temporarily disarm dangerous individuals — an idea endorsed earlier in the day by Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican.
“We Democrats believe that family members, members of a household, or law enforcement should be able to petition a court to ensure that these individuals don’t have access to a firearm while they are a clear danger to others,” he said.
Mr. Schumer also said Democrats believe there should be a “debate” on the Senate floor on a so-called assault weapons ban.
“Not every member of our caucus will support that ban, but the vast majority will,” he said.
Lawmakers are searching for some sort of legislative response to the recent Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in which 17 people were killed. Authorities said accused gunman Nikolas Cruz, 19, used an AR-15-style weapon and had previously shown signs that he wanted to hurt people.
Mr. Schumer said buy-in from President Trump, who met with lawmakers at the White House Wednesday on the issue, will be critical to passing the measures.
“The first step is the president,” he said. “The only hope of passing this, given that Democrats are so strongly for these proposals, is the president persuading Republicans and frankly giving them cover from the NRA.”
Mr. Schumer spoke positively about a proposal from Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania that would expand background checks to cover private sales at gun shows and online.
“If Manchin-Toomey can get 60 votes and closes the loopholes — gun show, internet — that would be great,” he said.
That measure failed in the U.S. Senate in 2013, after lawmakers tried to craft legislative responses to the December 2012 Newtown school shooting.
Sens. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, and Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, are among a large group of senators who have signed onto what’s being called the “Fix NICS” bill to incentivize states and federal agencies to share more of their records with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
But Mr. Schumer and other Democrats have said they don’t want to simply pass that bill and then move onto other things.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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