Texas school shooting: Domestic terrorism bill stalls in Senate after tragedies in Buffalo, Uvalde

A Democrat-backed bill on domestic terrorism, aimed at responding to the Buffalo mass shooting earlier this month, stalled on 47 – 47 vote Thursday just days after yet another mass shooting, this time at a Texas elementary school. 

Though most Democrats voted yea on the procedural vote to start debate on the bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted nay in order to return to the bill at a later time. Most Republicans voted against it, though Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted in favor of moving the bill forward. 

Many GOP senators said they disagreed with Democrats’ definition of a terrorist or extremist, and worried about broad powers it might give the federal government. 

“I think it’s like a disinformation board on steroids,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said of the bill. “This is like the patriot act for American citizens.”

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But the vote gained increased salience after a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas earlier this week. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promised to open the bill up for gun-related amendments in the wake of that tragedy. That essentially turned the Thursday procedural vote into a referendum on two issues: gun control after the Texas shooting and white supremacy after the Buffalo shooting at a grocery store in a Black neighborhood. 

“The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act… is a necessary and timely step to honor the memories of the dead in Buffalo and to make sure mass shootings motivated by race don’t happen again,” Schumer said Wednesday. 

“All we’re asking is a vote ‘yes’ on the motion to proceed,” Schumer added, at which point the Senate “could consider amendments related to guns.”

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There are some ongoing bipartisan talks on other legislation related to guns and preventing mass shootings. The two ideas that appear to have potential legs are red flag laws and expanded background checks. 

“I’m generally inclined to think that some kind of red flag law is a good idea,” Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters Tuesday. 

“I think the red flag statute has a lot of potential,” Senate Judiciary Committee member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., added. 

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Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont, pushed for a bill on expanded background checks that was initially introduced by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa. 

“I’m a huge Second Amendment advocate, but I’m gonna tell you, doing nothing puts our Second Amendment rights at risk,” Tester said. 

But it’s unclear if either of those ideas could garner 60 votes in the polarized Senate in an election year. Several Republicans expressed trepidation over red flag laws, or any extra laws that would regulate guns or gun ownership. There is some optimism, however, including among more senior Republicans 

 

“This a new development. Buffalo’s a new development,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Thursday. “I think there’s a sense of urgency that maybe we didn’t feel before but so, we’re gonna try. I mean, that’s all we can do is try and that’s what we’re, what I’m gonna do.”

Fox News’ Jason Donner contributed to this report.