Knives out for guns

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said pressuring Republicans to act on gun violence will be a top priority for Democrats this fall, according to a letter to his colleagues released Thursday.

In the letter, first obtained by POLITICO, Schumer wrote Democrats will continue to call on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring to the floor House-passed legislation requiring universal background checks during gun sales. So far, no Senate Republicans support the measure.

“President Trump and Senate Republicans have failed to act on the issue of gun violence, bowing repeatedly to the NRA and the hard right by choosing inaction or half-measures over real, meaningful legislation,” the New York Democrat wrote. “Comprehensive, evidence-based solutions, like updating our laws to require background checks for all gun sales, must be a part of any congressional action to curb gun violence.”

Schumer’s call for gun control measures comes after back-to-back mass shootings in Texas and Ohio in August that left at least 32 people dead — including the Ohio shooter — as well as a new shooting over the weekend in Odessa, Texas, that left seven people dead.