A divided Republican Party is fighting over gun control legislation that was cobbled together following last month's mass shooting in Orlando, raising questions over US House Speaker Paul Ryan's ability to get the measure passed.
While Democrats have said the gun control proposal put forward by Republican leaders was too weak, an influential group of approximately 40 conservative House Republicans announced their opposition as well, saying the plan did not do enough to protect gun buyers.
The legislation fails "to do enough to address the threat of radical Islamic terrorism", according to a statement by the conservative Freedom Caucus.
With the Republican leadership's legislation under attack from both liberals and conservatives, it was unclear whether Ryan could muster the 218 votes he would need for passage in the House of Representatives.
Last month, the Senate failed to approve any of several competing Republican and Democratic gun control proposals offered in the wake of the shooting at a gay night club that killed 49 and injured 53 others.
During the Senate debate, Democratic lawmakers staged a sit-in on the House floor to pressure Republican leaders to pass legislation expanding background checks on gun sales and blocking gun purchases by people on terrorism watch lists.
The Republican leadership bill, announced last Friday, would give the government three days to convince a judge that a gun sale should be blocked.
Ryan said he intends to bring it to the floor for a vote this week or next, but noted changes were being sought by numerous lawmakers.
Democrats, meanwhile, continued to pressure Ryan for votes on their more sweeping gun control measures.
Representative John Larson of Connecticut, a ringleader of the Democrats' sit-in, said his fellow Democrats plan to support Republican mental health legislation that could help avert some mass shootings.
Larson added he hoped it would be seen as an olive branch to Republicans toward progress on gun control.
Scores of gun control advocates demonstrated outside the House chamber in sweltering heat on Wednesday morning, as 91 people wearing orange t-shirts stood on the steps leading to the House demanding action.
They represented the 91 people who, according to government statistics, die each day in the United States from gun violence.
Many of them die as a result of suicide.
