Ryan Can't Get Republicans To Vote On Gun Control

Paul Ryan must really be wondering why he bothered to take the job as Speaker of the House. In another failure for Ryan’s leadership, a weak gun control bill that even the NRA has endorsed was scuttled before it could even get to the floor for a vote by his own Republican colleagues. Ryan had promised a vote on this bill in response to the Democrats’ sit-in before the July 4th recess. The bill, which was similar to the measure introduced in the Senate by Senator Cornyn and failed to pass there, would allow a judge a few days to block the sale of a gun to someone suspected of terrorism. Despite the NRA’s endorsement, one Republican House member called the bill “among the most egregious gun control measures ever to pass either house of Congress”.  The chances of this bill even getting through the House was pretty slim as it was and it was going nowhere anyway because the Senate had already rejected the very same bill. But, once again, Ryan was not able to control his own Republicans who have delayed getting the bill out of the House Rules Committee. It remains to be seen how Democrats will react – they have already been threatened with punishment for the prior sit-in and they were hardly likely to vote for this bill anyway. But that can’t be too happy that Ryan did not deliver on his promise for at least a vote. And House Republicans, especially the Freedom Caucus, will look at this as another example of Ryan’s and the leadership’s weakness.