POLITICUSUSA
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.).
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.
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.
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
So far this year the National Rifle Association (NRA) has spent just $11 million on midterm races, less than half of the amount of money it spent on the midterms in 2014.
The National Rifle Association, long seen as a kingmaker in Republican politics, is taking a lower profile in this year's midterm campaign. It has put $11 million into midterm races this year, less than half of what it spent four years ago. https://t.co/brhX3jh0Pa
A leading Jewish rabbi expressed the feelings of millions of Americans when he appeared on CNN and criticized President Donald Trump for some of his remarks which followed the mass murder in Pittsburgh on Saturday.
New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy signed a half-dozen new gun control laws on Wednesday, tightening the Garden State’s already tough gun statutes.
Murphy signed the new laws in Trenton surrounded by the Democratic legislative leaders who got the legislation passed after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida on Valentine’s Day that left 17 people dead.
In a change of heart after the Santa Fe school shooting, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that he could support some new gun control measures in his state. Abbott is a Republican who has always worked to expand gun rights and has been against any form of gun control laws or regulations.
According to James Shaw Jr he is not a hero, but in the eyes of millions he is. He’s the guy who took away the automatic rifle of the Waffle House shooter in Antioch, TN who killed four people and would have killed more if not for Shaw’s actions.
When 17 people were killed by a teenager with an assault rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Valentine’s day, a renewed national debate on gun control laws erupted. Many gun control advocates began pushing anew for a complete ban on assault-style rifles and also large capacity magazines, since these are the items that have been used in most of the mass murders in the United States in recent years.