In the wake of last week’s deadly rampage at the University of California, Santa Barbara that left three people shot to death and three others stabbed to death, Democrats in the House of Representatives are weighing adding a gun control amendment to an appropriations bill this week.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Wednesday that Democrats are discussing adding a gun amendment that would likely attempt to strike the ‘prohibition on requiring gun sellers to report on multiple sales on assault-type weapons.’
Elliot Rodger, the gunman in the Santa Barbara incident, used three pistols in his attacks, rather than the high-powered rifles the bill presumably would target.
If the Democrats do offer the amendment, Hoyer said he doesn’t expect it to go far in the Republican-controlled House.
‘I continue not to have high expectations because of past performance,’ he said.
The House and Senate tried to deal with gun laws in 2012 in the aftermath of the deadly shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn. The Senate managed to craft a bipartisan bill to expand background checks, but lawmakers were unable to break a filibuster in the chamber.