McConnell Kills Senate Effort on Guns

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “cut the legs out from a bipartisan effort to keep suspected terrorists from buying guns,” The Hill reports.

“In doing so, McConnell, a master of the Senate’s arcane rules, provided cover for vulnerable Republicans who wanted to be seen as supporting the effort, but did not want to cross the National Rifle Association.”

New York Times: “The solution was a procedural maneuver by which the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, scheduled the bill for a vote on a motion to table it. By voting not to table it, Republicans could keep it alive without advancing or defeating it outright — putting it in a sort of legislative purgatory.”