White House slams Senate's 'cowardice' in gun votes

The Senate rejected four gun control measures Monday in a move the White House lambasted as a "shameful display of cowardice." Senators "continue to protect a loophole to allow individuals suspected of terrorism to buy a gun," press secretary Josh Earnest said on CNN on Tuesday, referring to one of the blocked measures. "Right now, according to loopholes protected by Republicans, those individuals can walk into a gun store and buy a gun."

Earnest emphasized that the Obama administration is not interested in hampering Second Amendment rights, or in preventing the military and law enforcement from being "well-armed," but rather in closing a loophole that "doesn't make any sense." "We're not suggesting that a law-abiding American citizen should not be able to buy a gun," Earnest said. "We believe our military should be well-armed. We believe our law enforcement should be well-armed. We don't believe we're going to pass a law that's going to prevent every act of gun violence."

The Senate's votes Monday came just a week after a mass shooting in Orlando killed 49 people at an LGBT nightclub. The voting was largely split along party lines. Two of the measures called for the expansion of background checks, and the other two addressed preventing terrorism watch list suspects from getting ahold of guns.