Mass Shootings Give Democrats New Urgency on Gun Control

  • Republican opposition remains obstacle to action by Senate
  • Gun violence hearing follows Colorado, Georgia killings

Healthcare workers outside of King Sooper's Grocery store after a gunman opened fire in Boulder, Colorado on March 22. 

Photographer: Chet Strange/Getty Images
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Two mass shootings in one week are giving Democrats new urgency to pass gun control legislation, but opposition from Republicans in the Senate remains the biggest obstacle to any breakthrough in the long-stalled debate.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday pointed to his record as a senator getting a ban on military-style rifles through Congress as proof that legislation limiting firearms is possible. But Congress has grown more partisan since Biden’s time on Capitol Hill, and gun control has become one more issue that some Democrats say is too important to let Republicans block.