It appears that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s apparent openness to background check legislation is just a short-term strategy meant to quiet his critics in the aftermath of the dueling massacres in El Paso and Dayton.
Washington Post reporter Robert Costa told Chris Matthews on Monday that McConnell is just running out the clock until the gun control debate fades away again. In other words, he doesn’t really intend to take meaningful action on the issue.
“McConnell’s play, I’m told, is to just let it peter out,” Costa said. “Talk about being open to background checks and let it play out.”
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Mitch McConnell is just trying to run out the clock on background checks. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/IXkcZM8JrH
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) August 13, 2019
Costa said:
The NRA has been weakened by the scandals with Wayne LaPierre. Listen to Rush Limbaugh’s show on Friday. He spent hours saying that if the president moves on background checks – they know they’re dealing with a president who’s not ideological at the core and that he may be looking for a win, especially as the trade deal stalls with China. And if he starts looking for a background check win, you already have people beyond the NRA trying to boost that gun rights activism. They’re telling the White House behind the scenes, don’t move an inch, we’re not going to give anything, and McConnell’s play, I’m told, is to just let it peter out. Talk about background checks and let it play out.
McConnell is hoping the gun control debate blows over – again
The media pounced on the news last week that McConnell appeared open to joining Democrats and supporting legislation to expand background checks for gun sales.
But he never actually committed to supporting such a bill or even bringing it to the Senate floor for a vote. As I wrote at the time, McConnell and other GOP lawmakers don’t deserve a single ounce of credit until they actually do something.
The further we get away from the shooting massacres in El Paso and Dayton, the more it looks like Republicans – led by Mitch McConnell – are hoping to run out the clock until nobody is talking about this issue anymore.
It’s up to the American people to make sure that doesn’t happen. Not this time.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
