Senator John Cornyn was chosen to be the Republican’s lead in the bipartisan effort to curb mass shootings. The effort came about after two recent high profile shootings, one in Buffalo, New York and one in Uvale, Texas. He knew it would not be easy.
Cornyn has for weeks been trying to find common ground with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy on the gun debate. Â Murphy told Politico at the beginning that Cornyn was “…earnestly at the table. He’s made clear there’s only so far that he’s willing to go. But so far, the things on the table are incremental but significant changes.”
Last week, however, it became impossible for Senator Cornyn to remain in the negotiations, and he walked out. He said he was “done” after about two hours of negotiations, saying he was flying home, reports the Daily Mail.
“This is the hardest part because at some point, you just got to make a decision. And when people don’t want to make a decision, you can’t accomplish the result. And that’s kind of where we are right now,’ Mr. Cornyn said. He added, “I’m not frustrated, I’m done.” He did also say, however, that he is open to further discussions.
The bipartisan group remains divided over how to define abusive dating partners who would be legally barred from purchasing firearms. Similarly they are still debating the best way to keep guns away from dangerous people. They also haven’t been able to resolve proposals to send money to states that have ‘red flag’ laws and to other states for their own violence prevention programs. Republicans have insisted on rigorous due process protections when considering temporarily removing firearms from any citizen. The talks are obviously tense, as both sides are concerned about how their voters will react at the polls if they don’t get something done.
The Senators gave themselves a deadline of next week to have something on which to vote. Cornyn said, “[a]nd of course, people like to come back and try to renegotiate things all the time. And I think we’re about, we’re about run out of our rope here, and we’ve got to make some final decisions today if we’re going to be able to get this on the floor next week.”
Cornyn spoke at the Texas GOP convention a day after his walk out, but he didn’t receive a nice welcome:
It sounds like it’s gotten to the point of put up or shut up. While Cornyn was booed in Texas, there is still Republican support for something to be done so that what happened in Uvalde, in Buffalo, in Parkland, in Santa Fe, etc. never happens again. What do you think should be done to stop mass shootings in America?
