Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) reflected on her experience as a newly elected official speaking with family members of the 2012 Newtown, Conn., school shooting, which left 20 children and six staff members dead.

Heitkamp told the Post she regrets voting with three other Democrats and 41 Republicans to block a background check bill the families had begged her to support just days earlier.

She said she did not agree with the “exact language” of the bill — and two others focused on semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines that also failed — but that it was her “obligation looking backwards to provide leadership” and to “make those bills better.”

“And I didn’t do that,” Heitkamp said. “My activity was passive, not active, in searching for a solution, and I regret that.”… Read More>>