Polls show Americans are increasingly in favour of more restrictions on guns after several mass shootings in the US

Spurred by the mass shooting in Orlando, the worst tragedy in US history, US senators on June 20 voted on a gun control bill to prevent terror suspects from owning weapons. The measures include background checks on gun buyers in order to limit suspected terrorists from obtaining weapons. But the bill failed to gain the 60-vote required to be passage.

The US Senate held its latest voting on gun control after the mass shooting in San Bernardino in December, 2015. Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein proposed to ban listed terror suspects from buying guns. Republican Senator John Cornyn suggested the government delay firearms sales to suspected terrorists for up to 72 hours for further checks.

The bloodiest shooting in US history on June 12 increased pressures on legislators to take action. The failure of the gun control measures have shown the political power of the gun rights protection side. The Republican Party and its allies in the National Rifle Association argued that Democrats’ measures have violated the rights to carry a weapon. While Democrats said the Republican proposals were too weak.

The gun control bill has failed to be adopted since the mass shooting at a primary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 and another shooting at San Bernardino, California, in 2015. Since then the public’s support for gun control has increased from 19% in 1990 to 55% in 2015. But the Senate voting on June 20 showed a political division on this issue.

Statistics show that every day 89 people die from gun violence and the average annual figure is 32,000 people.

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump also have adopted different views on gun control. President Barack Obama criticized the Senate for rejecting the bill, saying the senators have disappointed the American people for not taking any gun control measures after the Orlando massacre. He said the bill should be adopted by both Houses.