Tag: Boulder slaughter

The gun implicated in Boulder uses the same ammunition as an AR-15. It’s legally a pistol.

Washington Post logo

In a promotional video for the Ruger AR-556, a company product manager gushed that the weapon, legally designated as a pistol but closer to an AR-15 rifle in design, offered much more than a typical handgun.

The compact body features the same rail system as wildly popular AR-15-style rifles, he noted, allowing owners to attach accessories like optics and flashlights, and its short barrel makes for easy transport.

“It’s still great for all the applications of a pistol — or a rifle,” the Ruger staffer said in the 2019 video. Continue reading.

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

Washington Post logo

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

The Hill logo

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.

‘How dare you’: Gun-glorifying Lauren Boebert buried for tweet about Colorado mass shooting victims

Raw Story Logo

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) came under withering criticism on Twitter late Monday for her tweets about the mass shooting at a Colorado grocery store, with many pointing out her avid support for more guns on the streets of the United States.

As reporting on the shooting was breaking, the gun-toting lawmaker was busy tweeting, “The White House just called a lid at 1:13pm today. Biden is back in the basement, figuratively at least. Meanwhile, the country is in chaos and the border is coming apart at the seams.”

An hour later she finally addressed the shooting, with a tweet offering the usual “prayers” for victims — a pro forma message usually delivered by conservative lawmakers every time there is a mass gun-related act of violence. Continue reading.

Biden urges Congress to pass assault weapon ban

The Hill logo

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.