WASHINGTON — Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday he’s looking forward to discussing ways of combatting gun violence with his colleagues across the aisle, but cautioned that there are limits on the types of proposals he could support.
“Restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens is not going to make our communities or our country any safer,” Cornyn told reporters. “So we need to focus on the specific problem.”
Cornyn said he planned to connect with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who has taken the lead for Democrats in reaching out to Republicans interested in seeking a compromise.
“He and I have been talking about this issue for a long time off and on to see if we can find some common ground and maybe this will provide some impetus for that,” Cornyn said. “This is horrible. Hard to imagine anything could be worse than parents worrying about the safety of their kids going to school.”
Cornyn is in a unique position to help advance a bipartisan response to the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde. He has a high rating from the National Rifle Association, represents a state hit hard by mass shootings and has the trust of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who told CNN on Thursday that he had just met with Cornyn.
“As you know he went home yesterday to see the family members and begin the fact finding of this awful massacre and I have encouraged him to talk with Sen. Murphy and (Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.) and others who are interested in trying to get an outcome that is directly related to the problem,” McConnell said. “I am hopeful that we could come up with a bipartisan solution.”
The Senate on Thursday voted on a measure intended to combat domestic terrorism that failed to advance in the face of Republican opposition. The vote tally was 47-47, well short of the required 60 votes. No Republicans voted for the bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted “no” as a procedural gambit that allows him to quickly bring it up again for reconsideration.
Schumer had planned the domestic terrorism vote as a response to the recent mass shooting in Buffalo, in which investigators have indicated the shooter was motivated by the racist “replacement theory” ideology. Democrats stressed their proposal would not create new federal crimes or grant additional powers to law enforcement agencies.
Rather, it’s intended to address gaps between the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and FBI to improve the response to domestic terror threats such as white supremacy groups.
The Senate is on recess next week and Schumer is giving Murphy until they return to seek a bipartisan compromise. Initial conversations between the two sides on Thursday were promising, according to some participants, on areas such as “red flag” laws that are intended to identify and stop mass shooters before they act.
Cornyn said he was open to discussing such proposals but described them as “no panacea.” He alluded to the Buffalo shooting that came despite what he described as some of the toughest state gun laws in the country.
“One thing we should not do is try to pass something that will have absolutely no impact on incidents like this just to score political points or make ourselves feel good,” Cornyn said.
Murphy said Thursday at an event with gun control advocates outside the Capitol that he’s going to “extend a hand of partnership” to “those who have chosen to side with the gun lobby” and offer them “a seat at the table.”
But he also made clear if that effort proves unsuccessful, Democrats are prepared to force more votes on their own bills.
Identifying the kinds of proposals he’s looking for, Cornyn pointed to a previous measure he was able to get into law after the Sutherland Springs church shooting that addressed a specific gap in the background check database. Cornyn said Thursday he believes that law has saved lives.
“So this is an even more complicated situation, I’m afraid this young man was a ticking time bomb,” Cornyn said. “But I’m interested in trying to figure out what it is we might be able to do that would make that kind of event less likely in the future. Right now we’re still getting information from the investigation.”
He also echoed many of his GOP colleagues in touting the potential benefit of “hardening” schools to restrict access and drew parallels to the security in place at the U.S. Capitol and courthouses. A reporter pointed out the potential cost involved in providing that level of security to schools across the country.
“You pick what you want,” Cornyn said. “You want the status quo or you want to try to find a way to fix it?”
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