A week after the deadliest mass shooting in the country's modern history, the U.S. Senate on Monday voted down four competing gun control measures largely along party lines, including one put forward by Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn that sought to block the sales of weapons to people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list.
Under Cornyn’s bill, the attorney general would be given 72 hours to prove there was a probable cause for denying a suspected terrorist the ability to purchase a gun. The measure garnered support from the National Rifle Association but failed on a 53-47 vote. It needed 60 votes to pass.
“We all agree that terrorists should not be able to purchase a weapon; that is not up for debate,” Cornyn said before the vote. “The question before us is whether we're going to do so in a way that's constitutional.”
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has a fractious relationship with Cornyn, voted in support of his colleague's bill.
Link: https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/20/after-orlando-massacre-cornyn-gun-measure-fails-s/