Klar writes: "Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to 'immediately' call the Senate back into session to pass a gun safety bill."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. (photo: Win McNamee/Getty)
05 August 19
emocratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to "immediately" call the Senate back into session to pass a gun safety bill.
"Mitch McConnell should bring the Senate back into session immediately to pass HR 8, the gun safety bill that has already passed the House. That's a first step to addressing our serious gun violence epidemic," Sanders tweeted.
Mitch McConnell should bring the Senate back into session immediately to pass HR 8, the gun safety bill that has already passed the House. That's a first step to addressing our serious gun violence epidemic.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 4, 2019
Sanders' Senate colleague Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called on McConnell to do the same on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Their call follows two deadly mass shootings Saturday and Sunday, in Texas and Ohio, that killed a combined total of 29 people.
The Saturday shooting in El Paso, Texas killed 20 people and injured 26 others.
The bill Sanders is calling for a vote on, H.R.8 or the "Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019," would require a background check on every gun sale or transfer.
It was passed by the Democratic-controlled House in February.
A spokesperson for McConnell did not immediately return a request for comment.