A week after Orlando, Republicans protect terrorists’ right to bear arms - By Dana Milbank
On May 24, the House Appropriations Committee took up a proposal “to deny transfers of firearms to persons known or suspected to be engaged in conduct related to terrorism.” In a party-line vote, Republicans defeated the plan 29 to 17.
Nineteen days later, a man whom the FBI had investigated as a possible terrorist went into an Orlando nightclub and, claiming solidarity with the Islamic State, shot 49 people to death with weapons he bought legally.
The legislation couldn’t have prevented the massacre; it wouldn’t have taken effect for months. But it highlights an absurd situation: Lawmakers have known for a long time that those suspected of terrorist activities can legally buy guns, but the Republican majority, putting Second Amendment absolutism above modest national-security considerations, is refusing to fix the problem.
At least twice before, the same House committee had votes on the same proposal, and both times it was also defeated — in 2015, by a vote of 32 to 19, and 2013, 29 to 19. The Senate, for its part, voted down similar legislation in December, following the San Bernardino, Calif., killings.
And Monday night, a week after the Orlando killings, this tragedy repeated itself as farce. Republicans defeated Democratic legislation to keep those on terrorism watch lists from getting guns. Democrats defeated a fig-leaf measure proposed by Republicans that would have made it virtually impossible to block those on the watch lists from getting guns. For kicks, lawmakers also voted down dueling Republican and Democratic proposals on gun-purchase background checks.
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