Several proposed gun control measures all rejected by US Senate

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The latest effort to stop anyone who's on a Terror Watch List from buying a gun has failed Monday. The so-called "No Fly, No Buy" bill was one of four measures debated and rejected in the United States Senate.

There were four bills, two by Democrats, two by Republicans, but like previous efforts to pass gun legislation after tragic shootings, the latest bipartisan effort to restrict access to guns fell short.

For gun shop owner and gun rights advocate Frank Burgin, stopping a suspected terrorist who isn't allowed to get on a plane, from buying a gun sounds like common sense.

"If you legitimately belong on a no-fly list you should not be able to buy a handgun or a long gun," he said.

But the catch for Frank and a majority in the US Senate is how do you make sure the person on the list is really a potential terrorist.

"We have to make sure that somebody really should be on the No-Fly List and then, of course, they should not be able to buy a gun," Burgin said. "But we can't just arbitrarily put people on lists that don't belong on there."

The legislation sponsored by California Senator Diane Feinstein would have enabled the justice department to stop anyone who's been on a Terror Watch, or No-Fly List from buying a gun.

A Republican amendment would have simply alerted the government and created a three-day waiting period so the potential sale could be reviewed by a court.

Both failed.

As did an effort to close the gun show loophole, requiring background checks for gun purchases at gun shows. Something already required in California.

The failure to move anything was frustrating to Democratic Congressman Jim Costa of Fresno.

"The deadly shootings that took place in Orlando, we know could have happened anywhere in the United States," he said. "And the reality is we don't have a consensus in this house on the appropriate policies needed to prevent it from happening again. So, I say it's time to stop playing politics."

The Congressman told us he doesn't expect anything meaningful regarding gun violence, hate crimes, or terrorism to happen in congress this year.