New Gun Control Bill Emerges After Failed Votes
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WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) – The massacre in Orlando has prompted more discussion about gun control, even after the Senate failed to pass measures Monday night.
President Barack Obama said the votes failed the American people, but on Tuesday afternoon a new bill was brought forward.
A White House spokesman said that the president is taking a serious look at this last ditch effort to pass gun control legislation.
It's a last minute bipartisan compromise to keep firearms out of the hands of suspected terrorists, and it has support from both Republicans and Democrats.
The new plan to increase gun regulations was unveiled by Maine Sen. Susan Collins and others. It would apply to a narrow group of gun buyers.
"We want to make America safer," Sen. Collins said.
The Collin's compromise would block anyone on the no-fly list or the TSA selectee list from instantly being able to purchase a firearm.
Both lists have a combined 109,000 names – about 2,700 are Americans.
Monday's four gun control amendments were defeated, in part, because of a dispute over how to protect people wrongly placed on these lists from losing their Second Amendment rights.
"There's going to be no meaningful gun safety reforms done in this body if it's not bipartisan," said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia.
But Florida Sen. Bill Nelson said after the Orlando shooting he could not return to Florida empty handed.
"I owe it to the people or Orlando," he said, "to get the job done."
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, said this compromise includes a "presumption of innocence."
"If you're denied the purchase of a weapon, you can go to an appeals court, directly to an appeals court, and ask the government to show proof," he explained.
Despite the compromise, Senate leaders were still sniping over the failure of Monday's votes and the significant role of the National Rifle Association.
"How many more mass shootings do we have to endure before Republicans realize they are being used by the NRA?" Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid said.
Sen. John Thune fired back.
"The Democrats want to talk about anything but defeating ISIS, the Republican senator from South Dakota said. "And want to take something which is clearly a terrorist attack in this country and make it a debate about something different."
No vote on the bipartisan compromised has yet been announced.
The Collin's amendment needs at least 20 republicans to advance in the Senate. A strong showing by Republicans would put pressure on the GOP-led house to consider the provision.
