Still time for gun-control compromise
Terrorists who follow the playbook of the Islamic State — such as Omar Mateen, killer of 49 people at an Orlando night club this month — have disgraced themselves before God and humanity with their uncompromising allegiance to a radical creed.
The U.S. Senate had a chance this week to demonstrate what sets American values apart: a spirit of compromise, a willingness to take a step back from our own hardline agendas.
In an unsurprising display of inaction Monday, senators failed the test. They couldn’t muster enough votes to advance any of four gun-control bills. This, despite the rising chorus of ordinary citizens calling for reasonable ways to keep guns out of the hands of menaces both foreign-born and homegrown.
Among the dead bills: background checks for gun show and Internet firearm buyers. Such rules are so patently sensible, they were approved by 59 percent of Washington voters in 2014, including 54 percent in Pierce County.
Senators also spurned a proposal to ban gun sales to individuals whose names are recorded in the FBI’s Terror Screening Database (TSDB). This, despite the public’s clear wish to disarm people whom the government has branded possible evildoers. A Reuter/Ipsos poll in January found more than 80 percent support for prohibiting anyone on the federal “no fly” list from buying a gun.
A chance for senators to redeem themselves – and to loosen the NRA’s iron grip on the Capitol – could come as early as this week.
A bipartisan group led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has crafted a compromise that would block gun sales to a much narrower segment of people than those contained in the TSDB. The proposal would use the “no-fly” and “selectee” watchlists, which include around 109,000 names – roughly one-tenth as many as are in the database.
By focusing on the most suspicious people, the amendment addresses concerns that law-abiding citizens unfairly swept into a massive database wouldn’t be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Gun-rights advocates should also appreciate that the legislation would allow attorney fees for anyone on the list who’s kept from buying a weapon but later wins on appeal.
Gun-control advocates, for their part, can be pleased that the Collins plan would red-flag anyone watchlisted in the last five years. This “lookback” provision is designed to catch former listees like Mateen, whose name was removed before he bought the semiautomatic rifle and handgun he used to wreak havoc in Orlando.
Washington state senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell both favored the stricter TSDB screening bill during Monday’s cattle call of failed votes. It would be a good-faith gesture if the two Democrats were to sign on to the Collins compromise; spokespeople for both senators indicated tentative support Wednesday.
Getting behind the deal would be consistent with Murray’s speech during a filibuster last week, as Democrats tried to apply pressure to pass gun-safety legislation. Murray said her constituents were “asking – begging – for us to do something.”
Any senator still straddling the fence would do well to recall the 250-year-old words of Voltaire, who counseled not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Meanwhile, an even worse shame is happening next door in the U.S. House, where Speaker Paul Ryan has refused to let gun-control legislation come to the floor. House Democrats protested Wednesday by staging a sit-in. Voters deserve better than election-year standoffs and theatrics.
And enough with the moments of silence, like those held in the House and Senate chambers the day after the Orlando massacre.
A moment of compromise would resonate a whole lot louder for all the victims of mass shootings, and for an aching nation.
This story was originally published June 22, 2016 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Still time for gun-control compromise."