The Challenge of Moving Toward Bipartisanship on Gun Control
On June 12, 2022, only weeks after the horrifying school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, members of the United States Senate did what many had previously thought impossible: They reached a bipartisan agreement on a legislative framework aimed at preventing future instances of gun violence.
First Steps to Common Sense on Guns
As of mid-June, the proposal had not reached a final form in legislative text. But the provisions agreed to by leading Democrats and Republicans encouraged many gun safety activists as a promising first step.
The proposal includes support for “red flag” laws that would allow local courts to temporarily remove weapons from the hands of people judged dangerous to themselves or others. Notably, it would offer significant federal funding to local jurisdictions to help them build a legal structure to better support red flag laws. The 19 states (and the District of Columbia) that already have red flag laws on their books would be eligible to request additional funding.
Additionally, the proposal offers a section on enhancing background checks for gun purchasers under 21. This more extensive inquiry would involve state and local government agencies providing any potentially disqualifying information from their juvenile justice and mental health systems regarding potential buyers of assault-style weapons.
The proposed legislation also notably attempts to close the “boyfriend loophole” by disqualifying would-be gun purchasers who have been found guilty of domestic violence against dating partners. Previous legislation only made this rule applicable to people convicted of violence against a spouse.
Other provisions of the emerging bill include more resources for community mental health programs and school safety protocols as well as a crack-down on “straw” purchases, in which a person buys a gun on behalf of another, ineligible, individual. Yet another provision, whose language was still under discussion as of mid-June, would require more gun vendors to register within the federal licensing system, meaning they would be mandated to run background checks.
Bipartisan Support for Legislation’s Possible Framework
The fact that 10 Republican senators joined with 10 Democrats to craft the bill indicates a strong chance for it to clear the filibuster threshold in a Senate equally divided along party lines. Notably, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky)—who was not among the initial group of 10 Republicans working with the Democrats—has signaled his support for a final bill that looks like this bipartisan framework. McConnell’s support is a major step forward, one that could indicate even more widespread support from rank-and-file Senate Republicans.
In the eyes of some gun control advocates, this bill doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t bring back the full ban on sales of assault-style weapons that a wide range of experts cite as helping lower mass shooting deaths from 1994 to 2004. It also doesn’t seek to expand background checks for transfers conducted by private or unlicensed sellers, a policy long espoused by Democratic gun control activists. In fact, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation in 2021 including such expanded background checks.
The new bipartisan proposal also doesn’t restrict under-21-year-olds from purchasing assault-grade weapons; it only boosts the pre-sale scrutiny. Even conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is in favor of raising that minimum age requirement for these purchases. But realistically, the “moderate” bipartisan bill is likely the best we’re going to get in today’s deeply divided Senate and deeply divided nation.
Factors for the Legislative Gridlock
In 2021, more than 45,000 people in the United States lost their lives to gun violence. This figure represents only the most recent rise in an upward trend that shows no sign of slowing down. So how did the universally important matter of ending gun violence become such a partisan issue? It’s gotten so bad that Senator John Cornyn, the Texan leading the Republican side of the bipartisan discussion, was booed and heckled for his stand at his state’s GOP convention on June 17.
In one sense, the gun control debate is the latest in a generations-old struggle between competing interpretations of the basic right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Political, cultural, and regional differences abound.
In a recent media survey of state governors, Democrats strongly favored policies that would raise the minimum assault weapons purchasing age to 21 and limit bullet and magazine capacity. Most Republicans either didn’t answer directly or emphasized their support for laws strengthening mental health services and school security measures—including the arming of teachers.
For most experts who take the long view, one thing stands out. Over the past couple of decades, the pro-gun lobby has grown in political and messaging clout, even if not in numbers.
In 2021, the National Rifle Association took in only $97 million in dues revenue—more than 40 percent less than it did in 2018. However, it maintains an advantage in much of the public discourse on gun control through its multi-million-dollar contributions to politicians, most of them high-profile Republicans. In 1977, the century-old group formed its own political action committee as its leadership shifted to a group of libertarian-minded and politically active conservatives.
Since the 1980s, the NRA has stated its views on where the roots of gun violence lie: not in unchecked access to military assault-grade weapons, but in individual mental health problems and in cultural products like movies and video games. The organization is especially adept at using fear-mongering and cultural wedge issues to move its most vocal and uncritical supporters—many of them single-issue voters—to post on social media and other public forums about any perceived threat to unfettered access.
This complex tangle of ideology, polarization, and political influence is one of the starkest differences between the conversation about gun control in the U.S. and that in other Western democracies. Solving the problem calls for sensible gun control advocates to show the same focused determination their opponents have used to stall constructive, bipartisan action for decades.