A test vote on bipartisan gun control compromise from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) showed on Thursday that it would fall short of the 60 supporters needed to advance legislation in the Senate — a signal that GOP leaders will not likely revive the measure anytime soon.
In the first of two hastily-called votes Thursday afternoon, the Collins plan won 52 votes in support, with 46 senators voting against it. It would allow the Justice Department to block people on two key federal terror lists from purchasing firearms, with a chance to appeal the denial of a gun sale if someone was wrongly included on one of the lists.
The other measure, spearheaded by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), was designed to be more appealing to Republicans by allowing federal officials to merely delay the purchase of a firearm, instead of denying it outright. It picked up just 31 votes in favor of it, with 67 senators opposed — all Democrats, a handful of moderate GOP senators and a swath of conservative Republicans.
