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(WASHINGTON) — While some of their friends and loved ones are still being buried at home, both survivors and families of victims in recent mass shootings challenged lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week to reach a deal on gun reform negotiations or risk continuing a 30-year trend of inaction in the wake of tragedies from Sandy Hook to Parkland.

As Senate negotiators continue talks, the House on Wednesday evening passed a sweeping package, largely along party lines — called the “Protect Our Kids Act” — which would raise the age limit for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, ban high-capacity magazines, create firearm safe storage requirements and tighten the regulation of bump stocks and “ghost guns.”

A handful of members broke ranks in the 223-204 vote, with five Republicans — Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Chris Jacobs of New York, and Fred Upton of Michigan — supporting the package, and two Democrats — Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon — voting no.

Notably, each Republican who crossed party lines will not be returning to Congress next term, and Schrader recently lost his Democratic primary. One Republican did not vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveled in the vote Wednesday with a smile as her caucus cheered.

But House GOP leaders pushed back ahead of the vote, with Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., noting, “there wasn’t a conversation about banning airplanes,” after the Sept. 11 attacks — and calling for the majority to hold bipartisan talks like their Senate counterparts. Though the legislation is doomed in the upper chamber, it’s intended to put pressure on Republicans who have been hesitant to enact — or outright blocked — reform at the federal level, despite growing calls for change.

The real opportunity to change policy lies in the Senate, where a small group of bipartisan negotiators is inching closer to reaching a gun reform deal in principle.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., leaving a meeting with the group of roughly 11 lawmakers on Wednesday, said they were discussing “a series of concrete proposals” that he’s “hopeful in the next day will all be reduced to a framework that includes a broad range of commitments, in terms of dollar amounts and purposes.”

But questions remain around what the final deal will include — and if it will go as far as many Americans are demanding.

“Somewhere out there, a mom is hearing our testimony and thinking to herself, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain,’ not knowing that our reality will one day be hers — unless we act now,” said Kimberly Rubio, mother of Lexi Rubio, a fourth-grade student among the 19 kids and two teachers killed in Uvalde, Texas. “So, today, we stand for Lexi. And as her voice, we demand action. We seek a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.”

“You expect us to continue to just forgive and forget over and over again. And what are you doing?” Garnell Whitfield Jr., the son of Ruth Whitfield, the oldest victim of the Buffalo, New York shooting, which left 10 Black people dead, asked senators Tuesday. “My mother’s life mattered. Your actions here will tell us if, and how much, it mattered to you.”

Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, who said he learned responsible gun ownership growing up in Uvalde, also offered a passionate plea from the White House after lobbying lawmakers on both sides of the aisle this week, saying that Americans are more united on the issue of guns, but it’s Congress that’s divided.

“Enough of the invalidation of the other side. Let’s come to the common table that represents the American people. Find a middle ground, the place where most of us Americans live anyway, especially on this issue,” McConaughey said in an emotional and lengthy speech. “Because I promise you, America — you and me, who — we are not as divided as we’re being told we are.”

The bipartisan group of senators, led by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, is aiming to reach a compromise this week on a package that could garner enough support to pass Congress — but they’re considering measures much smaller in scope than what both victims and President Joe Biden have publicly called for.

Instead of universal background checks, supported by 89% of Americans according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, negotiators are looking to expand background checks to look at juvenile records. Regarding red-flag laws, supported by 86% of Americans according to the same poll, laws which temporarily remove guns from the hands of individuals who are considered a danger to themselves or others, the group is considering incentivizing states to implement their own, as opposed to enacting red-flag laws at a federal level.

Funding to states for mental health resources — a measure Republicans pushed for, along with increased funding for school safety — is about 80% complete, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who is part of the talks.

Senate Democrats support the expanded versions of these measures as well as raising the age to buy assault-style weapons from 18 to 21 — but they don’t have enough Republican support to become law. Democrats need 10 Senate Republicans to join them on any legislation to meet the chamber’s 60-vote threshold, required by the filibuster rule, and allow a bill to advance for final passage.

So far, it’s not clear there is enough support even for a more modest deal.

Despite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky expressing a willingness in private to support raising the age to buy assault-style weapons, sources told ABC News’ Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott, the measure is a nonstarter for most Republicans.

Asked by a CNN reporter why Americans would need an AR-15, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said people use them in his state “to shoot prairie dogs and, you know, other types of varmints.”

Less than 24 hours later, a Uvalde pediatrician, who treated the victims of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, described to House lawmakers the damage the gunman’s AR-15 there had on the tiny bodies.

“Two children, whose bodies had been so pulverized by the bullets fired at them, over and over again, whose flesh had been so ripped apart, that the only clue as to their identities were the blood spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them,” said Pediatrician Dr. Roy Guerrero.

What’s next?

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has given negotiators roughly until the end of the week to come up with a framework agreement, after which it would take more time to then develop legislative language and get the requisite budget analyses.

“I’m encouraging my Democratic colleagues to keep talking, to see if Republicans will work with us to come up with something that will make a meaningful change in the lives of the American people and stop gun violence,” he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Making real progress is very important. Sen. Murphy has asked for space to have the talks continue, and I have given him the space.”

But not every negotiator appears on board with that swift timeline.

Lead Republican on the talks, Sen. Cornyn, told reporters on Wednesday that his “aspirational goal” would be to reach a deal “in the next couple of weeks, by the end of this work period” on June 27.

While negotiators appear to be closing in on a framework deal by Friday, one GOP aide familiar with the matter said that paper is still being exchanged by each side. It’s possible that members announce a deal in principle and then take a few more weeks to finalize language, as was seen with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Senate Democrats need 10 Republicans to join them in theory, but some think any agreement is going to need even broader Republican support to pass — under the thinking more in the GOP will be willing to support the measure if it has the backing of their larger conference.

If negotiators do not come to an agreement, Schumer has vowed to get every senator on the record by holding a vote on doomed-to-fail comprehensive gun reform legislation, ahead of the fall midterm elections.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — As another slate of states held their primary elections, most Americans remain critical of President Joe Biden’s handling of the inflation-plagued economy. According to a new ABC News / IPSOS poll, more than 8 in 10 Americans say that the economy is either an extremely or very important issue in determining how they will vote, a motivator likely to be reflected in which candidates advance to the general in Tuesday night’s key races.

Here are the key takeaways from the races in New Jersey, Iowa and California, which featured some of the midterm cycle’s most endangered incumbents across the political spectrum:

San Francisco district attorney defeated in recall

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin lost his job after a nail-biter of a recall race. With 68% of the expected vote in, 60% supported his ousting. Now, the mayor will name a replacement who will serve in the role until November 2023, the end of the term.

Supporters of Boudin’s recall who pushed for this change as the rate of hate crimes against Asian-Americans spiked in 2021 raised over $7 million for their efforts. They painted Boudin as soft-on-crime — an accusation that clearly resonated.

Boudin’s recall is not only bad news for progressives — it’s also a referendum on liberal prosecutors across the country who face constituencies incised at rising levels of crime in their communities.

Iowa Democrats’ unsure future

The Iowa Democratic establishment is on the rocks. In one of the primary night’s stunning upsets, former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer decisively lost to retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Michael Franken.

Finkenauer was painted by Washington as a rising party star, despite her reflection loss in 2020, garnering high-profile endorsements from groups like EMILY’s List. While she out fundraised Franken by a little over $1 million, voters may have been shaken by attempts from Republicans to challenge her candidacy eligibility.

Franken continues on to attempt to unseat 88-year-old Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

“I am forever grateful, and I will never stop fighting for the Iowa that I love,” Finkenauer said in her concession statement.

Any attempt from the left to knock Grassley off his perch will be unwieldy at best, as Grassley has both major institutional support from Washington as well as from voters in a state that continues to trend Republican.

Democrats will leap another hurdle with the House race of Rep. Cindy Axne, who faces tough re-election odds thanks to newly redrawn boundaries of her 3rd congressional district. Thanks to redistricting, Axne’s district saw an influx of more than 5,000 Republican voters, mostly rural, that are likely to be disdainful of her voting record and relationship with Biden.

Axne is a top target of the National Republican Congressional Committee and is now forced to combat a million dollars in spending on opposition ads. The Cook Political Report has Axne’s race in the general as one of 23 Democratic toss-ups.

She’ll face off with Republican former Iowa state Sen. Zach Nunn in November.

A showdown in the suburbs

New Jersey Democrat Tom Malinowski wins his primary but will have a harder time in the general election after the latest redistricting left him in the one vulnerable district when state leaders opted to draw 11 safely partisan other seats. Here, Republicans get an attempt to recapture the suburbs that they lost in 2018, which evidently lost them control of the House.

Malinowski, who represents Jersey’s 7th congressional district, told ABC News he thought such redistricting — which has played out to varying degrees in new districts nationwide, with varying levels of scrutiny and controversy — was bad for democracy.

“We’re the only ones who actually, by our votes and by our work, get to decide, get to make a difference in terms of which way the wind is blowing in America one way or another. And that is a burden. It means we have to work much harder. It’s going to cost us a lot of money. But I think it’s also a privilege,” Malinowski said.

The may-be speaker makes it through

The potential next speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, expectedly survived his primary in California’s 23rd district, perhaps with small help from a Sunday endorsement from former President Donald Trump.

In his statement, Trump said McCarthy was instrumental in holding Biden and current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “accountable for their catastrophic failures and dereliction of duty.”

If the Red Wave the GOP is banking on holds, McCarthy is well positioned to campaign for the speakership, a gig he’s not publicly claimed but rumored to be pining for.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A North Carolina bill would examine whether closing gun stores near schools can improve safety after a series of high-profile mass shootings across the country.

The proposal would study the impact of gun stores within 1,400 feet of schools and daycare centers to see if banning them would make a positive impact on the safety of school-aged children. The proposal would not look to close existing gun shops, but make it harder for new ones to open.

North Carolina state Sen. Natalie Murdock told ABC News the idea for the bill came shortly after the back-to-back shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. That same week, the 4-year-old niece of her friend died from an accidental shooting after finding a gun in her home, she says.

She noted that safe zones currently exist near schools. She says if sex offenders cannot be within certain distance of a school, it shows that there’s a way to prevent having guns in close proximity to schools.

The state senator says new gun shops should have to answer how close they are to schools and daycares, and conversations should be had about whether they are too close.

Murdock, who says she grew up in a gun-owning household, says for years North Carolina lawmakers proposed gun reform legislation from universal background checks, red flag laws, to raising the age to purchase guns to 21.

Those ideas, she says, have not garnered much traction.

She added, “I am tired of quite frankly politicians that are afraid to talk about gun safety and gun reforms. We’re getting this wrong.”

With the North Carolina legislature currently in session, Murdock says she plans to hand deliver her proposed amendment to Republican majority leaders and hopes to pass the bill with bipartisan support.

She says she wants to have a flexible approach to the legislation given that they are in a short legislative session.

Murdock says her team has also been in talks with lawmakers in legislatures in California, New Jersey and New York.

In Durham, North Carolina, Mayor Pro Tempore Mark-Anthony Middleton tells ABC News he plans on introducing the study in the city council.

Middleton, who says he is a gun owner and Second Amendment supporter, tells ABC News the measure isn’t about shutting down gun stores. Instead, he said, it “is about what kind of future we want to craft, maintaining the Second Amendment and keeping our kids alive. I don’t think that’s mutually exclusive.”

Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist and the founder of communications consulting firm Winning Margins, said he is supporting Murdock’s efforts to localize and nationalize this study. He told ABC News that he feels that Democrats can win on gun control if they coordinate with local governments.

Republicans have been successful in their efforts to codify lax gun laws in the courts because of their ability to win local elections, Ceraso says.

Murdock says gun reform doesn’t necessarily mean being anti-gun, but it does mean gun safety that includes laws, rules and regulations to protect children. She says she believes this is a tipping point for the country on the issue.

“The nation is listening and watching, and I don’t think we can let this opportunity pass us by I think we have to honor all of those who have been murdered recently, unfortunately, to say, we got to step up and do something from the federal level to the state level,” she said.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — While some of their friends and loved ones are still being buried at home, both survivors and families of victims in recent mass shootings challenged lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week to reach a deal on gun reform negotiations or risk continuing a 30-year trend of inaction in the wake of tragedies from Sandy Hook to Parkland.

As Senate negotiators continue talks, House Democrats on Wednesday will move to pass a sweeping package — called the “Protect Our Kids Act” — which would raise the age limit for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, ban high-capacity magazines, create firearm safe storage requirements, and tighten the regulation of bump stocks and “ghost guns.”

Republican leaders pushed back ahead of the vote, with Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the House GOP Whip, noting, “there wasn’t a conversation about banning airplanes,” after the Sept. 11 attacks — and calling for the majority to hold bipartisan talks like their Senate counterparts. Though the legislation is doomed in the upper chamber, it’s intended to put pressure on Republicans who have been hesitant to enact — or outright blocked — reform at the federal level, despite growing calls for change.

The real opportunity to change policy lies in the Senate, where a small group of bipartisan negotiators is inching closer to reaching a gun reform deal in principle.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., leaving a meeting with the group of roughly 11 lawmakers on Wednesday, said they were discussing “a series of concrete proposals” that he’s “hopeful in the next day will all be reduced to a framework that includes a broad range of commitments, in terms of dollar amounts and purposes.”

But questions remain around what the final deal will include — and if it will go as far as many Americans are demanding.

“Somewhere out there, a mom is hearing our testimony and thinking to herself, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain,’ not knowing that our reality will one day be hers — unless we act now,” said Kimberly Rubio, mother of Lexi Rubio, a fourth-grade student among the 19 kids and two teachers killed in Uvalde, Texas. “So, today, we stand for Lexi. And as her voice, we demand action. We seek a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.”

“You expect us to continue to just forgive and forget over and over again. And what are you doing?” asked Garnell Whitfield Jr., a son of Ruth Whitfield, the oldest victim of the Buffalo shooting, which left 10 Black people dead, asked senators Tuesday. “My mother’s life mattered. Your actions here will tell us if, and how much, it mattered to you.”

Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, who said he learned responsible gun ownership growing up in Uvalde, also offered a passionate plea from the White House after lobbying lawmakers on both sides of the aisle this week, saying that Americans are more united on the issue of guns, but it’s Congress that’s divided.

“Enough of the invalidation of the other side. Let’s come to the common table that represents the American people. Find a middle ground, the place where most of us Americans live anyway, especially on this issue,” McConaughey said in an emotional and lengthy speech. “Because I promise you, America — you and me, who — we are not as divided as we’re being told we are.”

The bipartisan group of senators, led by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, is aiming to reach a compromise this week on a package that could garner enough support to pass Congress — but they’re considering measures much smaller in scope than what both victims and President Joe Biden have publicly called for.

Instead of universal background checks, supported by 89% of Americans according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, negotiators are looking to expanding background checks to look at juvenile records. Regarding red-flag laws, supported by 86% of Americans according to the same poll, laws which temporarily remove guns from the hands of individuals who are considered a danger to themselves or others, the group is considering incentivizing states to implement their own, as opposed to enacting red-flag laws at a federal level.

Funding to states for mental health resources — a measure Republicans pushed for, along with increased funding for school safety — is about 80% complete, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who is part of the talks.

Senate Democrats support the expanded versions of these measures as well as raising the age to buy assault-style weapons from 18 to 21 — but they don’t have enough Republican support to become law. Democrats need 10 Senate Republicans to join them on any legislation to meet the chamber’s 60-vote threshold, required by the filibuster rule, and allow a bill to advance for final passage.

So far, it’s not clear there is enough support even for a more modest deal.

Despite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky expressing a willingness in private to support lowering the age to buy assault-style weapons, sources told ABC News’ Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott, the measure is a nonstarter for most Republicans.

Asked by a CNN reporter why Americans would need an AR-15, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said people use them in his state “to shoot prairie dogs and, you know, other types of varmints.”

Less than 24 hours later, a Uvalde pediatrician, who treated the victims of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, described to House lawmakers the damage the gunman’s AR-15 there had on the tiny bodies.

“Two children, whose bodies had been so pulverized by the bullets fired at them, over and over again, whose flesh had been so ripped apart, that the only clue as to their identities were the blood spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them,” said Pediatrician Dr. Roy Guerrero.

What’s next?

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has given negotiators roughly until the end of the week to come up with a framework agreement, after which it would take more time to then develop legislative language and get the requisite budget analyses.

“I’m encouraging my Democratic colleagues to keep talking, to see if Republicans will work with us to come up with something that will make a meaningful change in the lives of the American people and stop gun violence,” he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Making real progress is very important. Sen. Murphy has asked for space to have the talks continue, and I have given him the space.”

But not every negotiator appears on board with that swift timeline.

Lead Republican on the talks, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, told reporters on Wednesday that his “aspirational goal” would be to reach a deal “in the next couple of weeks, by the end of this work period” on June 27.

While negotiators appear to be closing in on a framework deal by Friday, one GOP aide familiar with the matter said that paper is still being exchanged by each side. It’s possible that members announce a deal in principle and then take a few more weeks to finalize language, as was seen with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Senate Democrats need 10 Republicans to join them in theory, but some think any agreement is going to need even broader Republican support to pass — under the thinking more in the GOP will be willing to support the measure if it has the backing of their larger conference.

If negotiators do not come to an agreement, Schumer has vowed to get every senator on the record by holding a vote on doomed-to-fail comprehensive gun reform legislation, ahead of the fall midterm elections.

ABC News’ Trish Turner, Benjamin Siegel and Allie Pecorin contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — A California man was charged with attempted murder of a U.S. Supreme Court justice for allegedly making threats against Justice Brett Kavanaugh and showing up near his Maryland home armed, federal court records show.

The suspect was angry over the recent mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and the leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s decision impacting Roe v. Wade, according to an affidavit from an FBI agent submitted in support of a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court on Wednesday.

The man — identified by the Department of Justice as 26-year-old Nicholas Roske of Simi Valley — was allegedly spotted by two U.S. Marshals wearing black clothes and carrying a backpack getting out of a cab in front of Kavanagh’s house at approximately 1:05 a.m. Wednesday, according to the affidavit. A Glock 17 pistol, two magazines, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crowbar, pistol light and duct tape were in the backpack, according to the affidavit.

The suspect then allegedly called the Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center to say he wanted to kill a Supreme Court justice, according to the affidavit.

“Roske also told the call taker he came from California to kill a specific United States Supreme Court Justice,” the complaint stated.

The suspect was arrested at about 1:50 a.m. Wednesday and was taken into custody in Montgomery County, a Supreme Court spokesperson said. Montgomery County police said the case has been transferred to the FBI.

“Roske indicated that he believed the Justice that he intended to kill would side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws,” the affidavit stated. “Roske stated that he’d been thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided he would kill the Supreme Court Justice after finding the Justice’s Montgomery County address on the internet.”

Roske is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court Wednesday afternoon. Attorney information for him wasn’t available in online court records.

The charge of attempted murder of a Supreme Court justice carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

The Department of Homeland Security warned in May that there could be threats against Supreme Court justices over the leaked draft of the Roe v. Wade decision.

A bulletin obtained by ABC News in May said the draft leak “prompted a significant increase in violent threats — many made online via social media and some of which are under investigation –directed toward some U.S. Supreme Court Justices and the Supreme Court building.”

The National Capital Threat Intelligence Consortium identified at least 25 violent threats on social media that were referred to partner agencies for further investigation, the bulletin said.

“Some of these threats discussed burning down or storming the U.S. Supreme Court and murdering Justices and their clerks, members of Congress, and lawful demonstrators,” the bulletin said.

U.S. Marshals bolstered their protective details for the justices and began guarding their homes around the clock in the wake of the leaked draft, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday.

“This kind of behavior is obviously behavior that we will not tolerate,” Garland said. “We will do everything we can to prevent them [violence and threats of violence] and to hold people who do them accountable.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday, “This is exactly, exactly the kind of event that many feared the terrible breach of the court’s rules and norms could fuel.”

McConnell used the incident to call on the House to pass legislation increasing protection for Supreme Court Justices and their families.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a member of the Judiciary Committee, called on President Joe Biden to condemn those who target justices.

“Political violence is un-American. President Biden needs to personally and forcefully condemn violence and threats against Supreme Court justices,” he said.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement, “I call on leaders in both parties in Washington to strongly condemn these actions in no uncertain terms. It is vital to our constitutional system that the justices be able to carry out their duties without fear of violence against them and their families.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday that Biden “condemns this individual in the strongest possible terms” and is grateful for the quick law enforcement response in apprehending the suspect.

“As the president has consistently made clear, public officials, including judges, must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety, or that of their families,” she said.

The Department of Justice has U.S. Marshals providing support to the Supreme Court marshal, she said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.

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