Senate Gun Control Negotiators Could Have Bill Text as Soon as Today

Bipartisan Senate negotiators may release the bill text Monday of a deal struck earlier this month on gun-related legislation, after negotiations began to pick up steam in recent days, a source familiar confirmed to Fox News. 

As senators worked on the text of a bill, talks had been stuck on the details of how to close the so-called “boyfriend loophole” and how to fund state implementation of “crisis intervention orders,” also known as red flag laws. 

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Senators are hoping to pass a gun bill before the July 4 recess, although it is not clear they will be able to do so with very few legislative days remaining because they’re set to leave town.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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NBC News first reported that a text could be released Monday, although talks that seemed to be gaining steam last week did not result in a bill before the weekend. Senators are hoping to have something passed before the July 4 recess. It’s not clear they will be able to do so with just a handful of days left before they’re set to leave town. 

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said last week senators were making progress toward a bill text. 

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is the lead Republican negotiator on a bipartisan effort to pass a gun bill aimed at stopping mass shootings. 
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

“I think we’re in a better place in terms of… the grants to states that have crisis intervention programs,” he said. 

Cornyn and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., are the lead negotiators in the bipartisan group that earlier this month agreed on a legislative framework. That group includes 20 senators. 

But Cornyn said that there was still some disagreement among senators on the boyfriend loophole issue. That loophole is a part of federal law that allows court-adjudicated domestic abusers to buy guns if they were not married to their partner. 

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is the top Democrat negotiator working on putting together a bipartisan gun bill in the wake of recent mass shootings. 
(Senate Pool Video)

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Lawmakers want to broaden the definition of that law to make it so a broader category of domestic abusers can be excluded from having guns. As of last week they were still struggling to come up with a definition of this non-married category which would close the loophole but not sweep up other people accidentally. But Punchbowl News reported Monday Democrats may have made concessions on that issue. 

Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report. 

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