In June 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (S.2938) into law. Fifteen Republicans voted to pass the bill, including Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Mitt Romney (R-UT). The measure expanded background checks, closed the “boyfriend loophole,” required a federal firearms license for routing gun sellers, and permitted states to use federal funds for red flag laws. However, several GOP senators who voted for that gun control measure say they won’t back a recently proposed ban.
The Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) recently reached out to the GOP senators who backed S.2938. Several of them said they wouldn’t support a Democratic-led effort to ban assault weapons in the wake of the November 19 shooting incident at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
For instance, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said he opposed the Democrats’ efforts. “We’re done,” he wrote in an email to the DCNF. Ironically, he led the push to garner enough Republican votes to pass S.2938 in the Senate in June.
Likewise, Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Todd Young (R-IN) said they wouldn’t vote with their Democratic counterparts for any bans. In addition, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sent an article to the DCNF discussing his AR-15 and indicating his opposition to a prohibition on similar weapons.
Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) also said they would vote against an assault weapons ban through their spokespersons.
