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Republican leaders on Thursday resisted Democrats’ calls to tighten gun-control laws following Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., saying they prefer to focus on overhauling the country’s mental-health system. ... In the Senate, Republicans blocked Democrats’ gun-related amendments to a health-care bill. One amendment, defeated in a 48-50 vote, would have expanded background checks to all gun sales online and at gun shows, with the goal of flagging people with criminal or mental-health histories that disqualify them from gun ownership. ... The president is expected to veto the underlying bill repealing large chunks of the health law. GOP leaders reiterated their call, first made after last Friday’s shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, for a focus on mental health. (Peterson, 12/3)

The Senate on Thursday voted down two gun control proposals put forward by Democrats in response to this week’s deadly shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., in a series of votes that highlighted the intractable party divide over how to respond to gun violence. The Senate rejected a measure from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to expand background checks for guns purchased online and at gun shows on a 48 to 50 vote and an amendment from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to prevent individuals on the terror watch list from purchasing firearms on a 45 to 54 vote. The amendments were offered to an Obamacare repeal package currently being debated in the Senate and they needed 60 votes to be adopted. (Snell and Demirjian, 12/3)

Senate Republicans on Thursday rejected an amendment to the ObamaCare repeal bill that would have tied it to a separate fight on blocking suspected or known terrorists from being able to buy guns. Senators voted 45-54 on procedural hurdle for the measure from Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The California Democrat's proposal, which she has also introduced as a separate piece of legislation, would allow the attorney general to block the sale or transfer of a gun or explosive to a suspected or known terrorist if the individual is believed to use the weapons in an act of terrorism. (Carney, 12/3)

In the aftermath of one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history, public health organizations and Democratic lawmakers are pushing to treat gun violence as a public health issue. A few hours before a shooting that killed 14 and wounded more than 20 others in San Bernardino, Calif., on Wednesday, a group of doctors appeared with some Democratic members of the House to ask Congress to allow research on gun violence in the country. (Muchmore, 12/3)