US Senate debates gun control after California shooting
Updated: 2015-12-04 09:55
(Agencies)
|
||||||||
![]() |
Teresa Hernandez (right) and Monique Gutierrez hug at the Rudy Hernandez Community Center as they wait for a relative, who was not injured, after the shooting rampage. [Photo/Agencies] |
WASHINGTON - One day after a mass shooting in California that killed 14 people and wounded 21, Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate jousted on Thursday over gun control but again failed to advance legislation addressing the violence.
Democrats tried to expand background checks to those purchasing weapons at gun shows and through intrastate Internet transactions. They also proposed closing a loophole allowing
people on "terror watch lists" to buy guns and explosives.
Both efforts failed in the face of heavy Republican opposition.
Republicans said the government could mistakenly place innocent people on watch lists, denying them their constitutional rights to purchase guns. The influential National Rifle Association has also advanced that argument.
Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn failed to win an alternative putting gun sales on hold for 72 hours for people on watch lists. Critics have said such background checks could take longer to complete.
The FBI is trying to determine whether a couple suspected of the shootings at a workplace in Southern California on Wednesday had links to Islamic militant groups.
In a news conference before the votes, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said: "Congress is complicit in these mass murders when it fails to act."
Blumenthal's home state of Connecticut was the scene of a mass shooting three years ago when a 20-year-old gunman entered an elementary school and killed 20 children and six employees.
- Locals have tradition of drying foods during harvest season
- Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei govts to cooperate on emissions control
- Web promotion of prostitution to be targeted
- Two more spells of smog predicted to sweep North China
- Glass bridge in grand canyon of Zhangjiajie under construction
- Road rage cases pose huge safety challenge
Gunmen go on a killing spree in Southern California
Chinese, South African presidents hold talks to cement partnership
China, Zimbabwe agree to boost cooperation
First lady visits Africa's 'new window' on China
BRICS media leaders to secure louder global voice
Western science in the eyes of Chinese emperors
Top 10 smartphone vendors with highest shipments in Q3 2015
A deepening friendship
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
Today's Top News
Shooting rampage at US social services agency leaves 14 dead
Chinese bargain hunters are changing the retail game
Chinese president arrives in Turkey for G20 summit
Islamic State claims responsibility for Paris attacks
Obama, Netanyahu at White House seek to mend US-Israel ties
China, not Canada, is top US trade partner
Tu first Chinese to win Nobel Prize in Medicine
Huntsman says Sino-US relationship needs common goals
US Weekly
![]()
|
![]()
|