On Tuesday afternoon, Vice President Joe Biden, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, stood in the same room as House Speaker John Boehner.
Together, they dedicated a room in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center to Gabriel Zimmerman, an aide who died in the shooting rampage that critically wounded Giffords two years ago.
Right now, though, it looks like honoring Zimmerman might be the most meaningful action both sides might take in the wake of a recent spate of gun violence in the nation. The only realistic chance at a new gun-control measure — a bill to enhance background checks— is all but dead in the Senate, according to a whip count of Senators' votes.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday that the Senate will hold votes on a number of gun-related amendments — including a 4 p.m. vote Wednesday on the background check amendment that is sponsored by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
Biden told reporters Tuesday that he thinks Democrats are two votes shy of the 60 needed to pass the amendment. But Republican aides pushed back on that tally. One GOP leadership aide questioned where Biden got that number.
"Since he's the only person in Washington who has cited that number," the aide said, it's probably not true.
According to a rough whip count, 52 Senators are projected to vote for the expansion of background checks. All but three of them are Democrats. Eight Senators — six Democrats and two Republicans — are still undecided.
All eight undecideds would need to vote for the amendment for it to pass — Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), and Mary Landrieu (D-La.)
That could be tough. In a statement from which he quickly backed away, Manchin briefly told a reporter Wednesday morning that the Senate didn't have enough votes to pass the measure.
Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican from Nevada who had expressed an openness to expanded background checks, said on Tuesday that he would not support the measure. Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) office said that he is "favorably disposed" to the bill, but still needs to decide.
Offices of four the six Democrats contacted by Business Insider— Landrieu, Donnelly, Begich, and Baucus — were noncommittal. Pryor and Heitkamp's offices did not respond to requests for comment.
Gun-control advocates frequently point out that more than 90 percent of Americans support expanded background checks. Despite that, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has been leading the fight for expanded gun legislation, sounded resigned to the notion that it wouldn't pass in a pair of tweets late Tuesday:
I honestly just didn't believe GOP Senators would turn their back on 90% of Americans. I was naive.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 16, 2013
Still work to do on bill though. If there is a will, there's gotta be a way. #gunviolence#SandyHook
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 16, 2013
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