WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans voted against barring suspected terrorists from getting guns on Thursday afternoon, parroting National Rifle Association arguments that doing so would strip some innocent people of their constitutional rights to gun access just a day after yet another massacre on U.S. soil.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who introduced a competing bill aimed at undercutting the provisions, warned that the Democratic legislation would mean "the government can take from you valuable constitutional rights," calling it "un-American."
"You'd have to believe that the federal government is always right and is all-knowing" to support the legislation, Cornyn said, pointing out that not everyone on the terror watch list is a terrorist.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the NRA is a "quasi-militant wing of the Republican Party" on the Senate floor Thursday morning before the vote.
"Those who choose to do the NRA's bidding will be held accountable by our constituents," Reid said. "Something has to be done. We must take a stand. The American people are desperately looking for help, some help, any help."
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blasted Republicans before the vote as well.
"Our thoughts and prayers are not even close to enough," he said. "The scourge of gun violence that has swept through the country in recent years has snuffed out thousands on thousands of lives. It's an epidemic that must be addressed head-on and that means keeping guns out of the hands of people who should not have guns. That's what almost everyone in America believes but an intransigent few who happen to be Senators bowing to the power of the gun lobby have stopped the will of the American people from being enacted. Enough, enough, enough."
And Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the bill's sponsor, pointed out that the idea originated with the Bush administration in 2007.
Her legislation was blocked, with all but one Republican and just one Democrat voting against it.
Republican senators first voted in favor of a half-measure that would allow the Department of Justice to issue an injunction against someone on the terror watch list within 72 hours of their attempt to purchase a gun. If that injunction doesn't go through, the sale goes forward, however. That amendment passed with just one Democratic supporter and one Republican voting against it.
The Senate will later vote once again on tightening background checks and closing major loopholes that exist in the program — legislation that's almost guaranteed to fail in the GOP-controlled Congress.
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