U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal says the Republican-led Senate is sitting on a bill that would require background checks for gun purchases.
Blumenthal, who calls gun violence a public health epidemic, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s failure to bring the legislation to a vote only adds to the problem.
“My Republican colleagues cannot stand idly while their leader protects them in an act of consummate cowardice from taking a vote on this topic.”
Connecticut’s junior senator, Chris Murphy, said no one should obtain a gun without clearing a background check, saying universal checks would help prevent shootings where four or more people are shot.
“Americans are absolutely livid that Congress has done nothing, nothing of substance, to try to address this slaughter.”
Murphy said now is the time for McConnell to bring the bill to a vote in the wake of more than 100 mass shootings so far this year.
Republicans have supported a measure in the legislation that requires gun sellers to notify federal authorities when undocumented immigrants try to buy a gun.
The House passed a version of the bill 100 days ago that included that measure.