Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed confidence that senators will find a "bipartisan solution" to the problem after the mass murder of 19 students and two of their instructors in Texas last week. But if that kind of reaction sounds familiar—and uninspiring—because it's he's said something similar previously, just to shut the door later.Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Chris Murphy (CT) and Krysten Sinema (AZ) were "encouraged" by McConnell to talk with Democrats Sens. Chris Murphy (CT) and Krysten Sinema (AZ) about potential areas of cooperation on new gun legislation, according to CNN.
"I'm optimistic that we can get a bipartisan agreement," he remarked.
While it's noteworthy that McConnell expressed an interest in discussing reforms to regulations governing gun ownership in the United States, in McConnell's case, this is just a step away from denying gun legislation outright.
McConnell's "hope" for a bipartisan solution has only served to prolong the inevitable: inactivity time and time again.
McConnell told reporters in June 2016 that "nobody wants terrorists to have firearms" after a gunman slaughtered 49 people at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando.
"We're open to serious proposals from professionals about what we can do to help," he said.
However, when a bill was put to a vote that would have granted the Department of Justice the power to "deny the transfer of firearms or the issue of firearms and explosives permits to known or suspected dangerous terrorists," it was defeated along party lines with one vote. Senator Mitch McConnell was one of 53 Republicans who voted against the bill.
After mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton within 24 hours, then-President Donald Trump stated support for "very common-sense, smart, vital background checks" in August 2019.
In a statement issued on August 5, McConnell said, "Today, the president called on Congress to act in a bipartisan, bicameral manner to confront the recent horrific murders that have shaken our nation." "We, the Senate Republicans, are ready to contribute."
"Only real, bipartisan, bicameral efforts will allow us to continue this vital work and deliver new legislation that can pass the Senate, the House, and the president's signature," he said. "Partisan showmanship and campaign-trail rhetoric will only push us further away from the progress that all Americans deserve."
"We can't fail to approve something," McConnell stated a few days later in an interview with WHAS radio. "None of us can deny the gravity of the situation."
McConnell's statements were believed by Trump as well.
On August 13, 2019, Trump told reporters: "I am certain that Mitch wants to do something."After Trump's enthusiasm for the topic waned a month later, McConnell shifted his position.
On September 10, he told reporters, "My colleagues understand the very simple fact that you need a presidential signature to pass a legislation."
There was no vote at all.
For this report, McConnell's staff declined to comment.
McConnell's tendency of deferring to some hypothetical, far-off vision of a bipartisan solution has the same impact as politicians expressing their "thoughts and prayers" to victims—except it's less identifiable as a change-making gesture. McConnell, on the other hand, hasn't always shied away from expressing his feelings.
Following the shooting of nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015, McConnell spoke on the Senate floor to let "the American people know the Senate is thinking of them today and the victims that they loved."
He continued, "We're also thinking of the entire congregation at this ancient church."
The Charleston shootings resulted in no legislative changes.
The same may be said of the mass shootings that occurred later in 2015 at Oregon's Umpqua Community College, which claimed the lives of ten people, and the San Bernardino shooting, which claimed the lives of sixteen people. McConnell expressed sympathy for the victims and their families, but he slammed President Barack Obama's early 2016 proposals as politicized.
"It's hard to see today's declaration as being about more than politics," McConnell added, referring to the President's pledge to "politicize" shootings.
McConnell said it was "wrong to politicize an event like this" in the days following the Las Vegas shooting, which left 59 people dead at a concert.
"The investigation is still ongoing, and I believe it is premature to propose legislative remedies," he said.
Despite this, after 17 people were murdered at a high school in Parkland, Florida, McConnell was instrumental in the passage of one piece of reform legislation: the Fix NICS Act, which required state and federal authorities to enter criminal record information into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). McConnell also managed the adoption of the STOP School Violence Act, which gave cash to assist in the planning and prevention of school gun violence.
However, those measures fell well short of the far-reaching adjustments that most gun-control activists feel are required to truly reduce gun violence. And McConnell's willingness to engage on measures that could control or supplement current gun regulations has been sporadic at best.
Of course, McConnell isn't always willing to accept a non-existent bipartisan solution.
Following the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, McConnell told reporters days later that the entire Congress was "unified in condemning the tragedy in Newtown and in emphasizing the need to enforce our laws." Congress will consider if there is an acceptable and constitutional response that would better safeguard our citizens as the facts become more clear."
However, when asked by presenter George Stephanopolous in an interview on ABC in January whether Republicans would be open to recommendations from a new task group on gun violence led by then-Vice President Joe Biden, McConnell made it clear that his emphasis was elsewhere.
"First and foremost, we must focus on Joe Biden's panel, and what will they recommend?" McConnell said. "And then we'll figure out what, if anything, is acceptable to do in this area after they've done that."
He went on to say, "But the biggest problem we have right now is spending and debt." "From now until the end of March, that'll be the focus of the Congress." Over the next two or three months, none of these concerns will, in my opinion, have the same level of importance as expenditure and debt."
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