After capturing headlines earlier this week for calling on federal lawmakers to “come together” on gun reform, Senator Susan Collins dodged questions from a group of Mainers Tuesday when they attempted to ask what exactly she intends to do if Republican Senate leadership blocks the proposed reforms.
“She always struck me as being very wishy washy. If I had to draw a picture of her I would do one of reeds bending in the water,” said Portland resident Jo Trafford, who, hoping to have a chance to speak with the senator, waited outside an employee entrance to the Portland Regency Hotel, where Collins was giving the keynote address at the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s national conference.
Trafford and a group of a dozen local activists with Mainers for Accountable Leadership said they came to ask Collins how she planned to back up her call to action, but the senior Maine Republican slipped passed them and entered through a side door. They waited, hoping to catch her on her way out.
Collins has called for action in the past while refusing to back specific legislation
A day earlier, Collins told reporters that she wanted Congress to take a “comprehensive approach” to gun reform in the wake of the violence in Gilroy, California, Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, the last explicitly motivated by white nationalist extremism.
Collins reiterated the need for new laws again on Tuesday morning during an interview on WGAN, saying she favored stricter background checks and closing loopholes around online gun purchases.
“We need to look at it in a holistic way [including] the role of violent video games,” she said. “I’m not necessarily saying that’s the trigger, but why not tighten up the background checks since their whole purpose is to prevent criminals and those with serious mental illness from possessing firearms?”
But Mainers waiting outside the Regency said they had reason to believe Collins’ rhetoric would not lead to meaningful action on the issue. A bill to expand background checks passed by the Democratically-controlled U.S. House and backed by 42 Senate Democrats is not likely to see a vote in the upper chamber led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.). Even if it did, it likely wouldn’t have Collins’ support, with a spokesperson for Maine’s senior senator telling the Bangor Daily News that she thinks the Democrats’ bill goes too far.
Trafford and the others described Collins’ response to the issue as cynical and empty, pointing out that she is neither advocating for the legislation currently before lawmakers, nor calling on McConnell to hold a vote.
To them, it was a familiar strategy. Last summer, when news of the Trump administration’s child-separation policy at the U.S. southern border first broke, Collins condemned the policy but refused to endorse a Democratic bill to end family separation, calling it “too broad.”
At the time, Collins said she would work on finding a bipartisan solution, but when eight months later Beacon asked whether there had been any movement on that effort, she said that talks had fizzled out and she no longer had a plan to address the issue.
“When she started out, I think there was a real drive to be the moderate — that voice that can cross the aisle,” said Trafford, who said she has voted in the past for Republicans, including former Senator Olympia Snowe. “But I think that as time has gone on, she had to decide how she was going to stay a part of the power network. I think she sold out. I think she sold out to keep her job.”
‘Work is going on right now’
Livia Kunins-Berkowitz, a Bowdoin student activist and intern with the Maine People’s Alliance (of which Beacon is a project), happened to be at the exit Collins chose when she finally emerged from the hotel. “Senator Collins, are you going to call an emergency vote on gun control now?” she asked. “We need the Senate to convene right now to talk about gun control.”
Collins, walking past Kunins-Berkowitz and getting into the car, said, “I have been a long-time supporter for increasing background checks,” before the door closed. She lowered the window and added, “Work is going on right now,” and then was driven off.
Throughout her key votes on healthcare, the Trump tax cuts, and the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, organizers have repeatedly called on Collins to attend town halls with constituents, calls she has ignored. She has not held a constituent town hall since just after she was first elected in the 1990s.
(Top photo: Video still of student activists Livia Kunins-Berkowitz asking Senator Susan Collins about gun reform.)
Daily Updates