Tag: Atlanta slaughter

‘Ridiculous theater’: Sen. Cruz’s pushback on gun restrictions epitomizes high hurdles

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Virtually every time there is a mass shooting in the United States, the debate quickly turns to whether this might be the one — or, in the case of the last week, the two — that will ultimately force major action on gun restrictions.

In many ways, it seems lawmakers have given up even pretending that might be the case.

The tragedies in Atlanta last week and Boulder, Colo., this week have spurred the expected and logical debate about what more can be done about making sure guns don’t find their ways into the hands of the kinds of people who committed these atrocities. And there is an attempt to have that debate. Continue reading.

New shootings plunge Biden, Congress into gun control debate

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President Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to enact meaningful gun reforms after the second mass shooting in under a week, plunging Washington back into a familiar debate where lawmakers have stalemated in recent years.

Eight people in the Atlanta area and 10 people in Boulder, Colo., were killed in the most recent shootings, but there was little sign it would move the needle in Congress — even as political leaders who back gun reforms noted the United States is the only country in the world that continually suffers from mass shooting events.

There had been no mass shooting in a year as much of the country stayed home from work and school during the pandemic, a fact noted ruefully by former President Obama. Continue reading.

Biden urges Congress to pass assault weapon ban

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President Biden on Tuesday called on Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and to close loopholes in the background check system after a gunman killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, Colo.

“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” Biden said in remarks at the White House following Monday’s shooting. “We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again. I got that done when I was a senator. … We should do it again.”

Biden called on the Senate to “immediately pass” two House-passed bills that would expand background checks for firearm sales, noting that both passed the Democratic-controlled lower chamber with some Republican support. One of the bills would close the so-called Charleston loophole by extending the initial background check review period from three to 10 days. The bill is linked to the 2015 shooting in Charleston, S.C., in which a white supremacist killed nine Black Americans at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. Continue reading.