US Democrats in Congress, looking to heighten their profile on the hot-button issue of gun control, moved forward on Tuesday with new measures aimed at curbing gun violence, after President Donald Trump huddled with Republican leaders. The Democratic-led House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to approve three measures: a so-called red-flag bill, a ban high-capacity ammunition magazines for consideration by the full House and legislation to prohibit people convicted of violent hate crime misdemeanors from possessing firearms. The legislation, which will now be considered by the full House, comes more than a month after gun safety surged back to the forefront of U.S. public debate in the wake of back-to-back mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. The bills are part of a coordinated strategy between House and Senate Democrats to put pressure on Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to allow a vote on gun-related bills including universal background check legislation that passed the House in February. "We are not taking these additional actions simply to respond to mass shootings," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told the proceedings. "We are acting because of the urgent need to respond to the daily toll of gun violence in our communities, whether they are mass shootings or not, and whether or not they make national headlines," he said. Republicans pledged to support "sensible" legislation on guns but denounced the Democratic legislation as fatally flawed and a risk to gun owner rights under the Second Amendment of the Constitution. "What I am not willing to do is support legislation that will do nothing to make us safer and simultaneously infringes on the rights and liberties guaranteed by our Constitution," said the committee's top Republican, Representative Doug Collins. The red-flag measure would provide grants and set standards to help state courts and law enforcement agencies remove guns from people deemed a risk to communities and to themselves. The hate crimes legislation extends an existing firearm prohibition for those convicted of hate crime felonies to the misdemeanor level. Advocates of the high-capacity magazine bill believe the measure could help curb the destructive power of mass shooters. Trump and Republican leaders from the House and Senate met at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. House Republican whip Steve Scalise, the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, later told reporters he did not know if Trump and Congress would ultimately come to an agreement on gun legislation. -Reuters
