Lawmakers voice hopes of achieving bipartisan gun safety legislation as pressure mounts

Judy Woodruff:

U.S. senators raced again today to craft a bipartisan deal on gun law reform, aiming to reach an agreement by the end of the week.

Our Lisa Desjardins has been at the Capitol following it all. And she joins me now for an update on where things stand.

So, Lisa, as we said, some of the senators were saying they hope to pull something off this week. Is that — could that happen?

Lisa Desjardins:

I will tell you, speaking to senators coming out of important lunchtime meetings today, there is reason for hope.

But I do have to caution, of course, hope is a very fragile bud in a very stormy Senate. But I will tell you about what's on the table right now as far as guns go, what senators are really looking at earnestly.

First, let's talk about some of the things that they're discussing. One, encourage red flag laws in states, not a national red flag law. That does not look like that will pass the Senate. They also were talking about including juvenile records in background checks. A lot of these large shootings, of course, caused by young men who may have had some sort of interaction with police or other officials in the past.

Then they're talking about increasing the waiting period for getting a gun if you are under 21 years old. And there is one final thing I want to report, which on the table right now in the U.S. Senate, the idea of raising the age to purchase some guns, especially military-style assault weapons.

Now, my reporting differs from other reporters, I want to tell people, but I feel very solid about this. I spoke to senators and to aides who are involved closely and some senators who do not want to raise the age on purchasing guns, Republicans who told me they think a majority of Republicans in their conference might support that.

So it is a critical moment these next few days on this.

Judy Woodruff:

So, picking up on that Lisa, talk about the political dynamics here. You have looked at which lawmakers are key in seeing whether something happens or not.

Lisa Desjardins:

Some of these will be familiar faces, but I want to show our viewers exactly who's really controlling or who are the key forces to watch in what happens here.

At the top, there are four senators who are really leading the discussions. That's Kyrsten Sinema and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, also John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The two in the middle, Chris Murphy and John Cornyn, are really the key.

And I'm told if they — those two can agree on something, they think something can come out of the Senate. Now, there is a larger group also, because, of course, you need at least 10 Republicans ultimately to pass something through the Senate. A lot of these faces are familiar to our viewers.

These are senators who have been in discussions and overlapping meetings, and I'm told are hoping to meet tomorrow together to try and see if they can reach a framework, as their goal is at the end of this week.

But it's interesting, Judy. Senators are not the only voices that are important in this right now. There are other voices, as you heard earlier in the newscast, families asking for urgency, and also kind of unusual characters, like the actor Matthew McConaughey. He was born in Uvalde, Texas. He came to Washington yesterday, had dinner with senators, was at the White House today.

And here's what he said, trying to lay the case that there should be practical room forward that both gun owners and those who don't own guns might want. Here's what he said.

Matthew McConaughey, Actor:

Responsible gun owners are fed up with the Second Amendment being abused and hijacked by some deranged individuals

Can both sides rise above? Can both sides see beyond the political problem at hand and admit that we have a life preservation problem on our hands?

Lisa Desjardins:

That's part of the pressure here, that idea of life preservation in this country.

Judy Woodruff:

So, meantime, Lisa, the House of Representatives going ahead with more ambitious legislation, proposing.

Talk about what they're looking at there.

Lisa Desjardins:

The House will start voting on gun bills tomorrow. Let me lay out the ideas there that Democrats do expect to pass the House, first, a national red flag law.

After that, another idea would be from the House to raise the age, again, to buy semiautomatic weapons. They would like a ban of high-capacity magazines and background checks for ghost guns. Now, these are ideas we expect to pass the Democratic-led House, likely will not influence the Senate either way

But the House members there feel strongly. This is what we expect. And we expect all members of the Democratic Caucus likely to be on the floor tomorrow for sort of a national kind of debate there.

Judy Woodruff:

So, you know this Congress well. You know this issue of guns has come up again and again in these tragic times, one after another.

What do you think we're looking at this time?

Lisa Desjardins:

I have been thinking about this so much in the past few days.

And I want to point out sort of where we are with gun laws in this country. Let's look at what major gun laws have passed in recent years, 1993, the Brady Act, 1994, the federal ban on assault weapons. But that expired in 2004. That next year is when Congress passed protection for gun manufacturers from lawsuits.

And then, Judy, look at what we seen after 2005, if you look at the kinds of shootings we have seen across this country. These are just some of the most well-known ones, and, during that time, no major gun legislation. There was a Fix NICS bill, which kind of ended a loophole in the law in 2017, but nothing major.

I will say I feel something different this time. We always say that, but it is less emotional right now. And it feels more pragmatic. It feels that members of the Senate know this country does not think Congress is doing its job, both parties. They want to show that they actually can do something on a major issue. I don't know if they will.

Judy Woodruff:

Well, a lot of people watching this very, very closely.

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right.

Judy Woodruff:

Lisa Desjardins, thank you very much.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.