Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Reid says lawmakers are ‘not going to run from’ gun control debate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., smiles during an interview with reporters at his home in Searchlight, Nev., on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., smiles during an interview with reporters at his home in Searchlight, Nev., on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he’s committed to moving gun legislation and will offer all senators the chance to amend the bill on the floor.

“This is an issue that we’re not going to run from, this is an issue we need to talk about,” Reid said Tuesday afternoon. “I hope what we can do is have a bill reported out of the Judiciary Committee. It may not be everything everybody wants, but I hope it has some stuff in it that’s really important. And then I expect to have free amendments on the floor.”

Reid didn’t address an assault weapons ban specifically.

Opponents and supporters of gun control have raised concerns that Reid wouldn’t allow an assault weapon ban to come for a vote on the floor, citing the number of Democrats who are up for re-election in conservative states in 2014.

Reid said he wasn’t sure a ban could pass the Senate. “Is it something that can pass the Senate? Maybe. Is it something that can pass the House? I doubt it,” Reid told PBS Week in Review.

Tuesday, Reid signaled some support for gun legislation. He commended a speech Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy gave last week, where the Vermont Democrat suggested he would agree with expanded background checks and limiting high-capacity magazines.

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