WASHINGTON (AP) -- A polarized Senate has voted down a Democratic effort to bar gun purchases by people the government suspects of being terrorists, a day after the country's latest mass shooting.
Senators voted 54-45 to reject the proposal by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Minutes earlier, the Senate killed a rival plan by Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas that would have let the government delay firearms sales to suspected terrorists for up to 72 hours. Under that proposal, the transaction could be halted permanently if federal officials could persuade a judge to do so.
Senators voted 55-44 for Cornyn's proposal, but it needed 60 votes to pass.
Both votes were mostly party-line.
They came a day after a shooting in San Bernardino, California, killed 14 people and wounded 21 others.
