A last-chance deal on gun control?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 15 June 2022
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ten Republicans. Ten Democrats. One bipartisan gun-control deal. Could this be the last chance for any meaningful action on federal gun reform?
Read More:
Over the weekend, Republicans and Democrats announced a monumental agreement on addressing gun violence. They had a nine-point plan that included provisions that would prevent gun sales to a broader group of domestic violence offenders (closing what is called the “boyfriend loophole”), and criminal background checks for gun buyers under 21 would require checks of juvenile justice and mental health records. A federal grant program would also encourage states to implement red-flag laws.
Leigh Ann Caldwell, who covers Congress and also writes The Post’s Early 202 newsletter on politics, explains the policy proposals in the Senate framework. She shares the political calculations that led to this rare bipartisan moment and what the future could hold for more legislation on guns.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This week we saw something that we don't often see on the floor of the US Senate. |
| 0:07.5 | A Republican senator with an A-plus rating from the NRA talking up gun reform. |
| 0:13.3 | Mr. President, I want to report that we are making serious progress in our bipartisan |
| 0:18.7 | effort to respond to the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and other places around the country. |
| 0:25.6 | Over the last few weeks of it. Senator John Cornyn is from Texas, and he was a senator |
| 0:30.7 | who recently led a group of nine other Republicans to actually make a deal with Democrats on gun |
| 0:36.9 | control. |
| 0:37.9 | No parent should have to send their child to school wondering whether they're going |
| 0:42.0 | to be safe at school, and certainly no student should be afraid to go to school for fear |
| 0:48.1 | of their safety. I'm proud of the work we've done so far, but of course we're not at |
| 0:53.5 | the finish line. We are still at the beginning. |
| 0:58.6 | Whenever reporters who watch this all play out on Capitol Hill is Lee Ann called well. |
| 1:03.6 | She says that in many ways this deal was a huge moment, but now the hard part. |
| 1:09.9 | He is saying that he hopes to have the actual legislation written by the end of the week, |
| 1:16.9 | and to perhaps bring it to the Senate floor to vote on next week. |
| 1:21.6 | It seems really fast and aggressive because writing legislation takes a lot of time. |
| 1:28.0 | It's complicated, but we'll see if they stick to it. |
| 1:33.8 | From the Newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 1:36.8 | I'm Martine Powers. It's Wednesday, June 15th. |
| 1:40.9 | Today we talk with Lee Ann about the Senate's bipartisan gun control deal. She explains |
| 1:45.8 | what this plan would actually do, and what happens behind the scenes to get 10 Republicans |
| 1:51.2 | on board. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.