Oregon massacre unlikely to improve prospect for new gun controls

WASHINGTON — Another mass shooting, another appearance by a stricken-looking President Obama expressing anguish and frustration over congressional inaction on gun-control laws.

[...] in a now-familiar pattern — no sign that the chances for new firearms restrictions emerging soon from Congress are anything but remote.

Here’s a look at why that remains true, even after Thursday’s shootings at a community college in Roseburg, Ore., that left at least nine victims dead:

Most Democrats favor making it harder for people to purchase firearms, while most Republicans oppose that idea.

With the GOP running both the House and Senate since January, leaders have shown no willingness to even hold votes on curbing guns.

With the stunning massacre still fresh and Democrats controlling the Senate, lawmakers voted the following April on a bipartisan proposal to require background checks of all firearms purchasers at gun shows and on the Internet.

Democrats fell five votes short of the 60 needed to end a GOP procedural blockade that killed the measure.

[...] there are no signs that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has any desire to allow votes on curbing guns.

[...] with conservatives having just pressured House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to unexpectedly retire, the new leadership team will have little incentive to consider allowing votes on gun curbs.