In the aftermath of back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, earlier this month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had a simple message for her caucus: Keep the pressure on Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to hold a vote on H.R. 8, the universal background checks bill that her chamber had passed back in March. That strategy ran counter to what many of her colleagues hoped for.