Rep. Lauren Boebert ranted against the Senate gun control bill while spelling America wrong.
Lauren Boebert Spells America Wrong While Ranting About The 2nd Amendment
The Bipartisan Gun Control Proposal In The Senate Is Big And Historic
It has been decades since serious gun legislation was passed and the bipartisan gun violence bill in the Senate is historic in many ways.
Democracy in Peril: 90% of People Want Gun Control But Won’t Get It
What does it mean if 90% of Americans want the right to life, a right enshrined in the Constitution, but can't get it because their lawmakers refuse -- for decades-- to respond to the will of the people?
Opinion: If Americans Really Want to Address Gun Violence, It’s Democracy, Stupid
All of these issues—women’s right to choose, gun control, the rights of people to love how they want and marry whom they want, and much more—depend on one issue: democracy.
Biden To Take Action To Crack Down On Ghost Guns
President Biden will announce new rules cracking down on ghost guns and two executive actions on gun violence.
Biden Commemorates 4-Year Anniversary of Parkland Shooting, Says Congress Must Act on Gun Control
President Joe Biden commemorated the fourth anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and called on Congress to act and pass gun control legislation.
“On February 14th, 2018, a gunman stole the lives of 14 students and 3 educators at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School,” Biden wrote on Twitter.
He added: “Today we mourn with the Parkland families whose lives were upended and stand with those working to end the epidemic of gun violence. Congress must act.”
On February 14th, 2018, a gunman stole the lives of 14 students and 3 educators at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Today we mourn with the Parkland families whose lives were upended and stand with those working to end the epidemic of gun violence. Congress must act.
Former NRA President Tricked Into Appearing in Gun-Control Videos
While we seem to finally be gaining ground on the COVID-19 pandemic, there is one public health crisis to which we appear powerless.
That is the epidemic of gun violence.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 305 mass shootings as of this writing.
3,044 students did not have the opportunity to graduate high school this year because of their gun-violence linked deaths.
So parents of a student killed in the Feb. 14, 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. decided to publicize the political intransigence by inviting a former National Rifle Association (NRA) president to deliver a commencement speech to the students of Las Vegas’s James Madison Academy.
Except there is no James Madison Academy.
There were no graduating students.
Former NRA president David Keene instead delivered a rehearsal speech to 3,044 empty white chairs–one for each student victim of school shootings.
Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed in the 2018 mass shooting, founded the group “Change the Ref” to “empower our Future Leaders.”
According to its website, changetheref.org:
“CTR gives the kids of today the tools they need to be empowered to make changes to critical issues that affect our nation, through education, conversation, and activism. It uses urban art and nonviolent creative confrontation to expose the disastrous effects of the mass shooting pandemic. It also brings focus to the NRA’s corrupt maneuvers to buy lawmakers, while forcing solutions which are essential to healing mass shooting victims’ families’ lifelong grief. Change The Ref’s ultimate goal is to give the young generation of survivors and victims a disrupting voice to help lead the way to change–a more peaceful future.”
Poll: Two-Thirds of Americans Support Stricter Gun Control Measures
According to the latest Morning Consult-Politico tracking poll, two-thirds of Americans support stricter gun control measures. The poll was conducted following a spate of mass shootings in Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, and Colorado. Just 28% said they opposed tougher restrictions on gun ownership.
The poll also found that 76% support banning gun ownership for those on federal watchlists. Additionally, 73% said they would support establishing waiting periods of three days before a gun can be taken home after being purchased. 70% of those surveyed said they support the creation of a federal database that tracks gun sales.
On the matter of the Second Amendment, Americans find themselves about evenly divided. While 46% of those surveyed said that limiting gun ownership is more important than preserving the often debated Second Amendment, 44% said preserving existing gun ownership rights should take priority.
The topic also highlights a significant partisan divide, with 45% of those surveyed saying they trust Democrats to handle gun policy compared to just over a third––34%––who said they trust Republicans more.
The House of Representatives passed
two measures to expand background checks on all firearms purchases and transfers. The measures need 60 votes in the Senate
Tired Of Waiting For Republicans To Do the Right Thing, Biden Announces Executive Action To Expand Gun Control
When Joe Biden was running for president, he promised to use executive action to help with the gun problem in America. While he was initially focused on vaccines and the economy, he got around to the issue on Wednesday night.
Following two March mass shootings, Biden said, “I don’t need to wait another minute – let alone an hour – to take common-sense steps that will save the lives in the future, and I urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act.”
Of course, Republicans had little interest in doing anything. Following the shootings in Boulder and Atlanta, GOP lawmakers again ran out their ridiculous excuses for why any measure of gun control was out of bounds.
Tonight, the President announced new measures that will focus on ghost guns and different loopholes. Ghost guns are firearms used in crimes that have no serial numbers. Biden will look to create a plan to stop the proliferation of these weapons.
Biden also wants it to be easier for red flag laws to be used. These laws, “would allow police or family members to petition courts to temporarily remove firearms from people in crisis.”
The White House said in a statement:
“As the president urges Congress to pass legislation that will create an appropriate, national red flag law and also pass legislation that incentivizes states to adopt red flag laws, the Justice Department’s published model legislation will make it easier for states that want to adopt red flag laws to do so.”
WATCH: Lindsey Graham Posts Video Shooting AR-15 in Response to Calls For Gun Control
Over the last 20 years, the United States has experienced a number of mass shootings. 2021 has been no different. There have been high-profile massacres in both Atlanta, Georgia and Boulder, Colorado.
And the responses to the mass shootings have followed the usual script. Democrats use the incidents to call for common sense gun controls. And Republicans clutch their pearls and claim that if assault weapons are banned, Americans will have no way to defend themselves.
No member of the GOP clutches their pearls harder than Lindsay Graham. The South Carolina senator has been a frequent critic to even the smallest measures of gun control. He continued to push this message today with a video from a local gun range.
The video features the GOP lawmaker shooting an assault style rifle. He captioned the post, “In 1994, there was an Assault Weapons Ban – the evidence indicates that there was really no change at all in crime, because the crooks are going to get a gun!” Graham wrote in a tweet accompanying the video. Today at @PalmettoArmory I fired one of the weapons they are trying to ban. #2A.”
In 1994, there was an Assault Weapons Ban – the evidence indicates that there was really no change at all in crime, because the crooks are going to get a gun!
Today at @PalmettoArmory I fired one of the weapons they are trying to ban. #2A pic.twitter.com/XI985BZ96F
Harris Tells GOP to Stop Pushing “False Choice” That Dems Are Coming For People’s Guns
Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the Republican Party and politicians who’ve refused to consider gun reform in the wake of mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, and Boulder, Colorado, that have left a total of 18 people dead in the last week.
“I believe it is possible–it has to be possible–that people agree that these slaughters have to stop,” Harris said during an interview on CBS “This Morning.” She then pushed back against the GOP’s claims that gun reform is designed to strip guns away from law-abiding gun owners. “Stop pushing the false choice that this means everybody’s trying to come after your guns,” she said. “That is not what we’re talking about.”
Harris urged Congress to take action and address gun violence.
“It is time for Congress to act and stop with the false choices. This is not about getting rid of the 2nd Amendment, it’s simply about saying we need reasonable gun safety laws,” Harris said.
You can watch Harris’s interview below.
#EXCLUSIVE: @VP @KamalaHarris joins @CBSThisMorning to discuss the recent mass shootings in the U.S. and the Biden administration's plan to tackle gun control. pic.twitter.com/FBNhqh84sb
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning)
March 24, 2021
Senator Chris Murphy on Mass Shootings: “Congress Has Become Complicit in These Crimes”
Senator Chris Murphy criticized his colleagues for their inaction on gun reform measures just two days after a gunman killed 10 people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.
“I have just come to the conclusion that Congress has become complicit in these crimes,” Murphy (D-Conn.) told MSNBC. “When Congress doesn’t act, it sends an unintentional but very real sign of endorsement to these would-be killers. It looks like we’re approving the way in which they are managing their grievances, because we don’t do anything year after year.”
“I know a lot of people count us out [and] think that the politics are still the same as they were a decade ago,” Murphy continued. “I don’t think they are. I’ve talked to a lot of Republicans
Dick Durbin Says He “Can’t Keep Up With” Sheer Number of Mass Shootings
Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who serves as the Senate Judiciary Chairman, called the recent mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, “devastating,” noting that he “can’t keep up with” the sheer number of mass shootings that happen in the United States annually.
“I can’t keep up with it,” he said during his opening statement at a committee hearing on gun violence. “I can’t change and amend my opening statement to keep up with it. It just keeps coming at us. We are numb to the numbers. Unless we are personally touched, it’s just another statistic. That has got to stop.”
Durbin said that even as the country faces “a pandemic of coronavirus, we have another epidemic in America called guns.”
“I could ask for a moment of silence for the mass shooting in Boulder last night, and after that is completed I could ask for a moment of silence for the shooting in Atlanta six days ago, and after a minute, I could ask for a moment of silence for the 29 mass shootings that occurred this month in the United States,” he said. “But in addition to a moment of silence I would like to ask for a moment of action, a moment of real caring, a moment when we don’t allow others to do what we need to do. Prayer leaders have their important place in this, but we are Senate leaders. What are we doing? What are we doing, other than reflecting and praying? That’s a good starting point, that shouldn’t be our endpoint.”
You can hear Durbin’s remarks in the video below.
Senate Jud. Cmte. Chair Durbin at gun violence hearing:
"We face a pandemic of coronavirus. We have another epidemic in America called guns … Prayer leaders have their important place in this. But we are Senate leaders … What are we doing, other than reflecting and praying?" pic.twitter.com/0TyL09kEsJ
Colorado Congressman Jason Crow Calls for Gun Control in Wake of Mass Shooting
Representative Jason Crow (D-Co.) is calling for comprehensive gun control measures in the wake of yesterday’s mass shooting in Boulder, which resulted in ten deaths.
“There are common sense laws and legislation that we can pass that will help make our communities safer. We just have to get them done. It’s that simple,” he told CNN’s John Berman during an appearance on “New Day.”
Gabrielle Giffords’s Gun Violence Prevention Advocacy Group Launches Ad Campaign Supporting Universal Background Checks
Giffords, the gun violence prevention advocacy group created by gun violence survivor and former Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), has launched a new ad campaign to pressure Republicans in the Senate to support a measure that would expand background checks on all firearms purchases.
“That’s why we’ve marched, organized, and won. Almost nothing has support from both parties but universal background checks does,” the ad says. “So will the Senate have the courage to act or does the corporate gun lobby still scare them?”
Last week, the House of Representatives passed two measures to expand background checks on all firearms purchases and transfers. The measure needs 60 votes in the Senate. If approved, it would also expand the review time for gun purchases to 10 days.
Earlier this month, a bill to expand federal background checks on all gun sales was reintroduced in the Senate by Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
For the bill to pass the Senate, all 50 Democrats need to be on board. They would also need to secure 10 votes across the aisle to overcome the legislative filibuster.
The news of the new ad campaign comes after a gunman shot and killed eight people at three Atlanta-area spas last night. Authorities arrested a 21-year-old male suspect after a brief manhunt.
“As facts continue coming in, it is clear that guns are too often weaponized as a tool of hate,” Giffords said in a statement on Twitter. “This must end.”
We are heartbroken over the shootings in Georgia that killed eight and left one wounded.
As facts continue coming in, it is clear that guns are too often weaponized as a tool of hate. This must end. https://t.co/QUvNZpyujw
House Set to Pass Measures to Expand Background Checks on All Firearms Purchases
The Democrat-led House of Representatives is set to pass two measures to expand background checks on all firearms purchases and transfers. It would also expand the review time for gun purchases to 10 days. The bills will advance to the Senate, though they require significant bipartisan support to pass.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the legislation is necessary to address a crisis of mass shootings nationwide.
“The gun violence crisis in America is a challenge to the conscience of our country – one that demands that we act,” Pelosi said during floor debate. “These solutions will save lives.”
It took the Covid-19 pandemic to significantly slow the pace of mass shootings. A December 2020 report from The Associated Press indicated that there were just two mass shootings last year and that both happened before state lockdowns were largely implemented.
Last week, a bill to expand federal background checks on all gun sales was reintroduced in the Senate by Senator
Chris Murphy
Bill to Expand Federal Background Checks on All Gun Sales Reintroduced in the Senate
A bill to expand federal background checks on all gun sales has been reintroduced in the Senate by Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). The bill, the Background Check Expansion Act, was also reintroduced in the House by Representative Mike Thompson (D-Calif.).
The Democrat-controlled House passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act in 2019 but the legislation was never taken up by the Senate, which at the time was controlled by Republicans.
For the bill to pass the Senate, all 50 Democrats need to be on board. They would also need to secure 10 votes across the aisle to overcome the legislative filibuster.
“Joe Biden and hundreds of congressional candidates from both parties ran on the issue of background checks. This is the year to get this bill passed into law. And this legislation has the chance to bring this country together – even 85 percent of gun owners believe in expanding background checks, and a growing anti-gun violence movement, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, is demanding change,” Murphy said in a press release.
“It’s not complicated – universal background checks are supported by 95% of Americans and will save thousands of lives,” he also wrote on Twitter.
BIG NEWS: Today we reintroduce the Background Check Expansion Act.
It's not complicated – universal background checks are supported by 95% of Americans and will save thousands of lives.
Please RT this explainer video if you support expanded background checks. pic.twitter.com/q1cAEiHNNd
Donald Trump Jr. Falsely Claims Biden’s Campaign is “The Most Anti-2nd Amendment in History”
Donald Trump Jr. claimed Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign is “the most anti-2nd Amendment Presidential ticket in history.”
“Make no mistake about it: The radical left is coming for your guns!!!” he wrote.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want to take away your right to defend yourself and your family. They are the most anti-2nd Amendment Presidential ticket in history.
Make no mistake about it: The radical left is coming for your guns!!! pic.twitter.com/Nef1aJZBxi
Trump Claims The Second Amendment is “DEAD” If Biden Wins Election
President Donald Trump claimed the Constitution’s Second Amendment is “DEAD” if his rival Joe Biden wins November’s general election.
“Is that what you want from a leader? He will destroy our Country! VOTE NOW USA,” Trump wrote.
In the same message, the president claimed Biden will be “ruining” the Supreme Court if Democrats expand the number of justices on the bench. He also said Biden would kill “our Energy business, and JOBS” due to his opposition to fracking. (Biden has not “called for banning the practice entirely,” according to Politifact.)
Biden wants to Pack the Supreme Court, thereby ruining it. Also, he wants no fracking, killing our Energy business, and JOBS. Second Amendment is DEAD if Biden gets in! Is that what you want from a leader? He will destroy our Country! VOTE NOW USA.
New House Democrats Have Their Sights Set On Gun Control
Sarah Palin sounded the alarm on Twitter when she wrote:
“Here They Come: Dems Planning ‘Aggressive’ Gun Control Push When They Take Over House”
Here They Come: Dems Planning 'Aggressive' Gun Control Push When They Take Over House https://t.co/ezbWNP6KAN
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) November 13, 2018
Of course, Palin thinks it is a bad thing for people to actually talk about putting any limitations on gun ownership. But the former Republican vice presidential candidate is increasingly in the minority in this country as the majority of voters now favor some types of gun control.
On election day dozens of candidates who campaigned on a platform of imposing new gun control laws were elected to public office. These candidates were from from all over the country, showing that it is no longer a regional issue, but is a true national issue.
The results of the midterm elections also show that more people are not afraid to take on
the National Rifle Association (NRA)