Some gun rights advocates sharply opposed to bipartisan Senate agreement

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan Senate working group had barely announced its framework agreement for addressing gun violence when hardline Second Amendment defenders slammed the proposal.

“Here we go again, Republican legislators compromising your rights and getting nothing in return,” tweeted Gun Owners of America, which bills itself as the “only no compromise gun lobby” in Washington.

Former Trump campaign operative Steve Cortes denounced the Republicans in the group as “eunuchs” caving to Democrats while others called them “traitors” to the cause.

Such backlash could rally opposition to the developing proposal on the right and complicate the task now before the bipartisan negotiating group — turning its general framework of agreed-upon principles into actual legislative text.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said on the floor Monday he hopes the legislation can be finalized in the next few days and brought to the floor for consideration next week.

In the wake of several mass shootings including the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tapped Cornyn to be the lead GOP negotiator in an evenly divided group of 20 senators.

The 10 Republicans in the group enjoy some political insulation from angry voters given that four of them are leaving Congress at the end of this year, and five — including Cornyn — aren’t on the ballot again until 2026.

Still, Cornyn said he’s hoping to build GOP support for the proposal this week and pass it with a supermajority of senators. He also defended the deal as consistent with his longstanding support for gun rights.

“The gun-related provisions in this proposal will only impact criminals and those adjudicated mentally ill,” Cornyn said. “Law-abiding gun owners will not be subject to any new restrictions, period.”

He noted that the agreement-in-principle is only a start and the negotiators have much work ahead filling in the details. The deal includes money for mental health resources and school safety measures but the trickiest parts will be its gun-related provisions.

The most controversial of those is money to support states implementing “crisis intervention orders” which could assist states that adopt “red flag” laws under which courts can at least temporarily take guns away from individuals deemed a threat to themselves and others.

Cornyn said the money isn’t only for red flag laws and could be used for other purposes such as outpatient treatment centers in states, such as Texas, that don’t have red flag laws.

The National Rifle Association said it will wait to announce a position on the bill until it is written but other gun rights backers weren’t so patient, letting loose with stinging rebukes for the Republicans involved in the deal.

The harshest criticisms focused on red flag laws, which some House Republicans and gun rights groups say can be abused in divorce proceedings or other disputes.

“Federal dollars to bribe your state legislators into enacting unconstitutional ‘red flag’ laws, which could allow a court to seize your weapons, without any due process, simply based on anonymous tips,” is how GOA described that part of the deal.

Andi Turner, legislative director for the Texas State Rifle Association, also criticized the idea of money for more state-based red flag laws. She said she’d oppose any effort by Texas lawmakers to adopt such laws.

“If they decide to bring it up in the next session I will be fighting tooth and nail against it,” Turner said of the Texas Legislature. “Why? Because due process is a right of all American citizens.”

Cornyn acknowledged those criticisms Monday and said respecting due process rights in implementing those measures is “absolutely critical.”