A Conservative Showdown Over Gun Control

Gun control, terrorism, and constitutional rights have coalesced to create a complicated set of concerns that have left House Republicans struggling to find common ground. The deaths of two black men at the hands of police officers, and the murder of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, have brought renewed attention to a national debate over gun policy. Yet nearly a month after a terrorist attack at an Orlando nightclub, House Republicans remain deeply divided over how to respond. The discord on display may be a sign of hardening conservative battle lines—and that would spell trouble for House Speaker Paul Ryan.

House Democrats called for expanding background checks for gun sales and preventing firearms from falling into the hands of suspected terrorists after the Orlando attack. House Republicans have not seemed quite sure how to react to the demands. When GOP leadership unveiled counterterrorism legislation that included a provision aimed at keeping guns away from terror suspects, critics on the left and the right piled on. Democrats dismissed the bill as toothless. Meanwhile, the conservative House Freedom Caucus criticized the legislation for “failing to do enough to address the threat of radical Islamic terrorism” and including “gun control provisions that fail to adequately protect due process.”

So far, conservative criticism has appeared to win out....
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/guns-dallas-congress-orlando/490523/?utm_source=feed