Political experts in southwestern Connecticut say new gun control laws have a nearly zero percent chance of passing this year.

They say the reason is because most members of Congress are running for re-election and are doing so in a year with two deeply unpopular presidential candidates.

Rep. Jim Himes says that reason isn't an excuse to do nothing. Himes blasted his colleagues for not passing a ban on the assault weapons used in Orlando and at Sandy Hook.

"As you bow your head and think of what you say to your God, when you are asked what you did to slow the slaughter of innocents, there will be silence," he said.

Republicans did not address the gun control issue Tuesday.

"The first step, gun regulation of AR-15s, may not seem all that terrible," says Dr. Gary Rose, of Sacred Heart University. "But at the same time, people say that's going to set in motion a whole wave of reforms which will probably result in perhaps even the repeal of the Second Amendment."

Rose says it's not just Republicans who are hesitant to take on gun control right now. He says many Democrats are hesitant because of Hillary Clinton's struggling poll numbers.