WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — All four measures failed to pass as Republican and Democratic lawmakers voted along party lines on Monday, failing to reach the 60 votes needed to pass any proposal.
The vote comes just over a week after 29-year old US national Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 others in a Islamic State-inspired attack on a nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
A Republican proposal that would have allocated additional funding for the US federal criminal background check system and research into causes of gun violence failed to pass by a vote of 53 to 47.
Senators rejected by the same margin a second Republican measure that would give the US Department of Justice 72 hours to obtain a court order preventing anyone on the US government’s No-Fly List, or individuals who have been investigated for terrorism in the last five years, from purchasing a firearm.
Democrats offered alternatives to both plans. The first, which would have expanded background checks for all individuals purchasing firearms at gun shows and over the internet, failed with 44 votes in favor and 56 opposed.
A second proposal that would have barred anyone on a US federal terror watch list from purchasing a firearm failed by a vote of 47 to 53.
Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers have called for stronger gun control measures in the wake of the Orlando terror attack, but failed on Monday to agree on either party’s proposal to enact restrictions.
