WASHINGTON—Following back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, this month, lawmakers are debating the best legislative response to gun violence. But political posturing is already threatening to derail compromise.

Proposals for increased gun control include universal background checks, “red flag” laws that temporarily confiscate firearms from dangerous individuals, a crackdown on straw purchases of guns, a ban on semiautomatic firearms or large-capacity magazines, and making domestic terrorism a federal offense.

The same day a new law governing child sexual abuse cases went into effect in New York, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims used it to sue the late billionaire’s estate and several of his associates. Jennifer Araoz, now 32, filed a complaint alleging that Epstein groomed and raped her when she was 15 years old. She said one of Epstein’s accomplices introduced her to him when she was a 14-year-old high school freshman.

A suspect is in custody after an hourslong standoff and gun battle Wednesday in which he wounded six Philadelphia police officers. Police initially arrived at the home around 4:30 p.m. to serve an arrest warrant for drug charges.

Two guards on duty the night billionaire Jeffrey Epstein died in jail are under suspicion of falling asleep, failing to check on the inmate for about three hours, and falsifying the records afterward. Epstein is believed to have committed suicide early Saturday at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where he awaited trial for sex trafficking of underage girls.

WASHINGTON—For the first time, the U.S. government will assess the economic effect of placing a plant or animal on the endangered species list, the Trump administration announced Monday. The Endangered Species Act protects more than 1,600 species in the United States and its territories.

A longtime friend of the Dayton, Ohio, mass shooter assisted him with his weaponry but did not know about the attack or help plan it, according to the FBI. Ethan Kollie, 24, helped gunman Connor Betts obtain and store body armor, a 100-round magazine, and a gun accessory used during the Aug. 4 shooting that killed nine people.

Russia on Monday held funerals for five nuclear engineers killed during a failed missile test last week. The explosion Thursday on an offshore Russian testing facility in the White Sea killed at least seven people and injured several others. It also caused a spike in nuclear radiation in the nearby port city of Severodvinsk, according to local authorities.