Senate, Background Check | featured news

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate will "hit pause" on the gun bill while senators see if they can find a workable compromise on strengthening background checks on gun purchases.

The Senate has rejected a bipartisan effort to expand federal background checks to more firearms buyers in a crucial showdown over gun control. Today's vote was a jarring blow to the drive to curb firearms sparked by December's massacre of children and staff at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. President Barack Obama made broadened background checks the centerpiece of his gun control proposals.

A bipartisan pair of senators introduced a compromise proposal to expand background checks on Wednesday, an agreement which could form the basis for major gun control legislation to pass through Congress.

The leading Senate negotiations on gun control legislation favor expanding background checks, but the effort would as of now fall short of the universal approach backed by President Barack Obama and many Democrats, CNN has learned.

A divided Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday backed President Barack Obama's call to require criminal background checks for all gun buyers, yet it remained uncertain if it would become law.

Lamar Alexander won’t say what his opinion is on universal background checks because, as he says, video games are just a much bigger problem than guns when it comes to violent crime.