Senate hears plans to reduce gun violence: background checks, weapons bans, increasing firearms

The US Senate held its first hearing since the Newtown school shooting on proposals to stem gun violence. Lawmakers debated stricter background checks, bans on certain kinds of weapons and ammunition, and plans to arm more citizens. This week, shootings on a school bus in Alabama and near a school in Chicago claimed more lives, and another shooting in Arizona injured more during the Senate hearing. Yet the lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee and the expert witnesses failed to agree today on a path forward. One key Democrat plans to hold her own hearings in the coming weeks. On Capitol Hill, FSRN’s Alice Ollstein has more.