'Assault weapon ban won't get 50 votes' Lindsey Graham dares Schumer to bring measure to the Senate

Lindsey Graham dared Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring a bill with an assault weapons ban to the floor of the upper chamber because he claims it won’t pass.

‘I would challenge Senator Schumer to bring the assault weapons ban to the floor of the United States Senate. It won’t get 50 votes, much less 60,’ the South Carolina senator told ‘Fox News Sunday’ host Chris Wallace.

‘At the end of the day if you think an assault weapons ban is what the country needs, bring it to the floor of the United States Senate and vote on it,’ Graham said. ‘I welcome that debate.’ 

With a 50-50 split Senate, just one Democrat defector could derail any bill – and if done through reconciliation the party would need to convince 10 Republican senators to join them in voting on restricting gun rights.

President Joe Biden called for an assault weapons and high-capacity magazine ban last week in the wake of back-to-back mass shootings.

Lindsey Graham dared Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring a bill with an assault weapons ban to the floor: ‘It won’t get 50 votes, much less 60’

The White House says they are open to using executive action, but they would prefer Congress act in a more ‘permanent’ manner on gun control in the U.S.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said it is more likely to get a bill passed on tightening background checks.

‘Right now our best chance to get something passed is universal background checks,’ Murphy told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ host Chuck Todd on Sunday morning.

He even admitted to one of the GOP’s biggest ‘slippery slope’ arguments, however, that background checks could lead to larger reforms and restrictions on 2nd Amendment rights.

‘Once we convince Republicans that the sky doesn’t fall for you politically when you support a reasonable expansion of something like background checks, you can move onto other interventions,’ Murphy said.

A shooting earlier this month at three massage parlors in the Atlanta, Georgia area by a single gunman left eight people dead – six of whom were Asian Americans, sparking a national debate on racism and violence toward the Asian community in the U.S.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said the best way to get the GOP to open up to gun control legislation is passing a background check bill first

Not even a week later, a gunman opened fire at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, killing 10.

The two shootings have led to renewed enthusiasm from progressives calling on Congress to implement more gun control laws – especially related to so-called ‘assault rifles.’

Graham defended Americans owning firearms the left is trying to ban, claiming that if a gang came to his neighborhood, they would target his house last because he could defend himself.

The senator said he does support addressing issues involving those with mental health issues seeking to buy a firearm and implementing and bolstering existing red flag laws.