WASHINGTON — Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) issued a statement late Tuesday about the bipartisan meeting he held with fellow senators from both sides of the aisle about legislation addressing the recent shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo, N.Y.
Sen. Cornyn met with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) virtually in hopes of discussing a deal on gun legislation after the Uvalde school shooting and the Buffalo grocery store shooting.
After the meeting, Sen. Cornyn said the group will continue its work going forward.
“Senators Murphy, Sinema, Tillis, and I had a very constructive conversation about the best response to the horrific events in Uvalde last week. We’ve asked our staff to continue to work together to address some of the details that we hope to be able to discuss at some point soon,” said Sen. Cornyn in a statement.
Sen. Murphy also spoke about the meeting's objective.
"My plan is to get a comprehensive bill that will save lives, but if we can't get that compromise we're going to go ahead and put everybody on the record," Murphy said.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also spoke about the group, keeping the focus on mental illness and school safety.
"We have a group led by Senator Cornyn, and Senator Murphy on the Democratic side, discussing how we might be able to come together to target the problem. This is mental illness and school safety. We're getting back at it next week and hope to have results," Sen. McConnell said.
Right now, Congress is not in session because of the Memorial Day holiday. It returns next week. An aide to Senator Murphy previously said there will be meetings through this week. Possibly on the table are red flag laws, expanded background checks and safe gun storage. Senator Murphy also has said before he knows Republicans are unlikely to support all the reforms he does like banning assault weapons.
President Biden was asked Monday, after his visit to Uvalde the previous day, if he was more motivated now to see new federal limits imposed on firearms.
“I’ve been pretty motivated all along," he said. “I’m going to continue to push and we’ll see how this goes.”