Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (R-CT) appear to be making progress in framework discussions on gun reform as a collection of senators reportedly began to address details included in a revised bill proposal that calls for federal “red flag” laws similar to those introduced by Florida’s state government following the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“Red flag” laws allow law enforcement officials acting under a court order to temporarily seize firearms from individuals deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. A total of 19 out of 50 US states have “red flag” laws allowing a judge to order the temporary confiscation of an individual’s firearm(s).
Presently, lawmakers are discussing the details of an updated proposal that seeks to establish federal grants for states that create or bolster these “red flag” laws. One person familiar with the discussions said that Graham and Blumenthal are working to ensure that provisions of the proposal satisfy the majority of congressional Republicans and Democrats.
“Lindsey and Richard get along and are talking to outside groups about what they're doing," one person said, as reported by CBS News. "They were on the phone all weekend and bringing a few people in.”
Graham and Blumenthal confirmed to CBS on Wednesday that discussions were making progress, but did not expound on the details.
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers led by Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) met virtually on Tuesday to discuss a possible pathway toward the development of a basic framework for gun legislation proposals following recent mass shootings carried out by two 18-year-old gunmen in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.
Meeting attendees included Sens. Cornyn, Murphy, Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Thom Tillis (R-NC).
“Senators Murphy, Sinema, Tillis, and I had a very constructive conversation about the best response to the horrific events in Uvalde last week,” Cornyn said following the Tuesday meeting. “We've asked our staff to continue to work together to address some of the details that we hope to be able to discuss at some point soon.”
The Wednesday meeting led by Murphy did not include Cornyn, but was attended by Sens. Blumenthal, Graham, Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Pat Toomey (R-PA), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
The meetings took place after US President Joe Biden emphasized to reporters that policy related to enhanced background checks, firearm bans, and other gun control measures would first have to come through Congress–where previous Democratic-led proposals have failed to overcome partisan disagreement in the evenly divided US Senate.
“I think there’s a recognition on their part that they—we can’t continue like this,” Biden said of “rational” Republicans like Cornyn and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Red flag legislation was referenced at the federal level in a proposal introduced last year by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Angus King (I-ME). The ‘Extreme Risk Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act’ called for US Department of Justice funds to be deployed to certain states in an effort to incentivize US states to adopt laws similar to Florida’s red flag law.
More than 5,000 individuals have had their guns temporarily confiscated since the Florida law was signed into law by then-Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) back in March 2018.
One point of contention between US lawmakers appears to be whether or not the issue of gun reform should be addressed on a federal or state level.
Republicans, including now-Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), have argued that states should bring forward their own legislation and not apply Florida’s red flag law as a blanket cure for the record mass shootings and gun violence in the US.
“Every state’s going to be a little bit different. … It worked in Florida, and so they ought to look at that and say, could that work in their states?” Scott told the Washington Post this week.