October 12, 2015 4:43 PM

Sen. Cornyn threads the ideological needle on guns and mental health

Texas’ senior senator pushes changes to gun background checks and, unlike Ted Cruz, “stands out as somebody that is trying to make things work.”

Sen. John Cornyn worked to thread the ideological needle today while hosting a roundtable discussion and press conference about mental illness and criminal justice at the Travis County Courthouse. Cornyn was promoting a bill he filed last week called the Mental Health and Safe Communities Act, which tweaks the national gun background check program, supports treatment and diversion for inmates with mental illness, and encourages law enforcement officers to collaborate with mental health professionals to improve responses to people in crisis.

In brief opening remarks, Cornyn said that the bill is a practical response to the scourge of mass shootings. He said, “Okay, we may not be able to solve all the problems, but how can we make some substantial progress in dealing with this common element which seems to pervade almost all of these incidents?”

That practicality—the pursuit of what might actually be accomplished—was the theme of the morning.

While introducing the senator, Tony Fabelo of the Council on State Governments said that in Washington, Cornyn “stands out as somebody that is trying to make things work.” Without explicitly condemning the state’s junior senator Ted Cruz, Fabelo praised Cornyn for “his temperament—his class, honestly—in trying to maneuver a very, very difficult political environment.”

By Emily DePrang