Reid Shelves Gun Control Bill...For Now

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) (Getty Images).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday announced that the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate would shelve its gun control legislation -- for now.

“Yesterday, President Obama said it was a shameful day for the Senate, and it probably was, I agree,” Sen. Reid said. “But we should make no mistake: This debate is not over, in fact this fight is just beginning.”

The Nevada Senator said that the legislative body would “take a pause and freeze the background check bill where it is” and “return to it at an undetermined date," according to the Washington Post.

“We’re going to come back to this bill,” Reid said.

A White House source familiar with senator's decision to pull the bill tells the WaPo that he first cleared it with the Obama administration.

“The underlying bill hasn’t been defeated and is still technically on the legislative calendar. As majority leader, Reid can bring up the bill again at a moment’s notice,” the report explains.

“When the Senate might reconsider the bill remains uncertain and may not occur for weeks or months. Reid said the Senate would move next to consideration of an Internet taxation bill, a proposal that is believed to enjoy bipartisan support,” the report adds.

The senate on Wednesday rejected seven gun-related amendments, most of them measures championed by President Barack Obama. The big one was the Toomey-Manchin proposal to expand background checks.

Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W. Va.), though frustrated, told reporters he is confident that the Senate would return to the issue.

“The bottom line is, that the facts were just so clean and clear,” the senator said. “The bill had been worked on for three months, it took everyone. It sure as heck wasn’t the president’s bill.”

On Thursday, the senate approved two more amendments: “One that would deter states from publishing lists of gun owners and a bipartisan plan to bolster federal funding for mental health efforts, including suicide prevention programs,” the WaPo notes.

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