WASHINGTON - After the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (voting record) cautioned Tuesday against a "rush to judgment" on stricter gun control.
A leading House supporter of restrictions on firearms conceded passage of legislation would be difficult.
"I think we ought to be thinking about the families and the victims and not speculate about future legislative battles that might lie ahead," said Reid, a view expressed by other Democratic leaders the day after the shootings that left 33 dead on the campus of Virginia Tech.
Democrats traditionally have been in the forefront of efforts to pass gun control legislation, but there is a widespread perception among political strategists that the issue has been a loser in recent campaigns. It was notably absent from the agenda Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (voting record) unveiled earlier this year when the party took control of the House and Senate for the first time in more than a decade.
