McConnell: Congress In 'Holding Pattern' On Guns

Right now, no one really knows what the hell is going to happen regarding gun control. All we know is that the House is passing a bunch of stuff, even now, while the Senate refuses to budge on any of it. For gun rights supporters, this is about as good as we could hope for because it means our rights aren’t being further infringed upon.

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That’s not going to hold.

At some point, things are going to change and we’re likely to see the Senate take up some degree of gun control. What we’re waiting for, however, is President Donald Trump to decide what he wants to do. Until then, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says all of Congress is basically in a “holding pattern”.

Six weeks after a pair of mass shootings killed more than 30 people, Congress remains “in a holding pattern” on gun control as lawmakers await proposals from the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.

While President Donald Trump has said he would veto a House-passed bill to expand background checks for gun purchases, McConnell said he is hopeful there are other gun-related proposals that Congress can approve and Trump can support.

“I still await guidance from the White House as to what (Trump) thinks he’s comfortable signing,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters. “If and when that happens, then we’ll have a real possibility of actually changing the law and hopefully making some progress.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said McConnell and Trump were blocking meaningful action on gun violence, adding, “This is the moment for the president to do something different and courageous.”

The New York Democrat said he wonders whether Trump will “rise to the occasion, or will he squander this opportunity as he always has done in the past?”

Because trying to shame Trump has always worked so well in the past.

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I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump decided to just say, “Screw it. We won’t do anything,” and cite Schumer’s flapping gum as the reason for it, which would be hilarious, to say the least.

That’s probably not going to happen, but you’d think that the same Democrats who complain about Trump being unstable would have also figured that riling him up was probably not a winning strategy.

Trump, however, is expected to reveal his plan sometime this week regardless of what people like Schumer spout. I also have a hard time of them not taking whatever Trump is willing to concede as far as guns go, especially since they know they can’t do anything without him.

Until Trump announces, though, not just Congress but the media are on pins and needles trying to figure out just what the hell is going to happen and whether it’ll accomplish the stated goal of reducing mass shootings, even though we don’t know the details. (Spoiler: It probably won’t.)

McConnell is right. Everyone is in a holding pattern and will remain in a holding pattern until Trump tells the world what he’s planning on doing.

Then the real fun begins.

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