Dems promise new gun control effort in 2015

Connecticut Senators Richard Blumenthal (D) and Chris Murphy (D) said Monday they will try again to move gun control legislation through Congress next year, even though that effort will face an additional hurdle in the form of a Republican-led Senate.

"We will redouble our efforts to stop gun violence. Federal laws need to be greatly strengthened," Blumenthal said in a news conference in Connecticut. On Sunday, he and others marked the second anniversary of the shootings at Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 students and six adults were shot and killed by Adam Lanza.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Monday he wants to try again with gun control legislation next year.
Image: AP Photo/Susan Walsh

According to an NBC reporter, Blumenthal said he wants to push again for universal background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines. He will also push to renew a federal ban on assault weapons that expired a decade ago.

Sen. Blumenthal says the push will include universal bkgd checks, assault weapons ban, ban on high capacity magazines, among other things.

— Debra Bogstie (@NewsDebra) December 15, 2014

Sen. Blumenthal: "We will redouble our efforts to stop gun violence. Federal laws need to be greatly strengthened."

— Debra Bogstie (@NewsDebra) December 15, 2014

It was tough enough to pass a gun bill under Democratic leadership, and it's likely to be tougher to pass one Democrats can support under GOP leadership. In 2003, the Senate blocked a proposal to ban assault weapons, expand background checks, and ban high-capacity magazines.

Soon afterwards, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was forced to pull the bill from consideration due to lack of support for the goals the Obama administration was seeking.

On Sunday, the families of nine of those killed in Newtown said they would sue the manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle that was used in that shooting. The suit said the company should never have made the rifle publicly available.

Blumenthal told CBS news that those legal claims "reflect the deep and enduring loss and injury that these families have suffered and possibly the frustration they feel at the lack of action by Congress."