Supporters of the gun control initiative in the US Congress are increasing their efforts to ensure that their 2014 agenda will get passed. The Associated Press said that the renewed vigor in making more stricter gun control measures happen is inspired by Democratic worries about the November elections, lack of Senate majority votes and opposition from the House itself.
According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, he is needing additional votes before he decides to pay a visit to a proposed extension of gun sale background checks. The proposition did not secure enough approval from the Senate last year, AP said. Advocates of stringent gun control laws are hoping this time that Reid will allow votes on more modest proposals, like the addition of convicted stalkers to the list of criminals who are banned from obtaining guns.
President Dan Gross of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence expressed his concern about the change his organization and others wish would happen immediately. He told AP, "This kind of change doesn't happen overnight. There are obviously a lot of other considerations and variables in play here, like elections."
National Rifle Association chief lobbyist Chris Cox also shared his concern on what seemed to be inaction from legislators considering that just this month, a former Ku Klux Klan member shot three people dead outside Jewish community centers in Overland Park, Kansas. He said, "They're waiting for another tragedy to exploit. The question is, do they want gun owners across this country to be more enraged this election cycle than they're already going to be?"
Officials at the White House said that they have not abandoned the issue. They claimed that just last year, Obama has issued 23 executive orders on gun control alone, which include a reboot of federal research on gun violence, plus measures that closes loopholes on laws that, for example, prohibit felons from obtaining machine guns by registering them to entities.
