Washington — A few days after 19 children and two teachers were shot in Texas, Washington politicians are tinkering with the edge of American gun control.
Bipartisan group of senators Will hold a virtual meeting early next week, including expanded background checks, legislative changes to prevent mentally ill and teens from getting guns, new rules on gun trafficking, and more. I have a suggestion.
Senator Christopher S. Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat and initiative leader, has been less willing to talk since the murder of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. He said he couldn’t.
However, new details of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday suggest that some of the proposals being discussed would have made a big difference. The shooter did not have a criminal record that could have been captured by an extended background check. There is no evidence that the gun was part of the trafficking circle. And so far, there are no reports of mental illness that may have caused the so-called Red Flag Act.
Broader efforts such as Republican opposition, Democratic resignation, court rulings, military-style weapons bans, gun purchase ages, and firearm ownership authorization and registration requirements have already been largely ruled out. increase.
Federal Court of Appeals this month before a Texas shooting and another massacre at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. Breaking California law It banned the sale of some semi-automatic weapons to people under the age of 21. Both shootings were committed by the age of 18.
Washington’s reaction to the horrifying scene is a well-known combination of pain and paralysis. There is a feeling that Congress, the White House, and the whole country should somehow be different this time.
In Yuvalde, the state’s Supreme Law Enforcement Officer was police on Friday Wait for more than an hour When he was trapped in the classroom, he fired sporadically while the still-living student was still lying inside his classmate’s body to confront the shooter.Hundreds of protesters rage outside the National Rifle Association Tournament in Houston — Less than 300 miles from the slaughter — The group celebrated a long-standing partnership with Republicans to thwart gun control measures.
“How many more children?” Read one sign. “You are responsible,” read another article that looks like blood splatters.
From Opinion: Texas School Shooting
A commentary from the Times Opinion on the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Still, even after so many children have been slaughtered, major Washington politicians are replaying their usual role.
“Since Sandy Hook, Republicans are more interested and involved than ever today,” Murphy said. “That is, by definition, that’s not the case, right? But I also failed every time. Almost without exception, these discussions go nowhere when they start, right? So, given its history, it’s optimistic. I’m worried about insisting on the principle. “
Senators went home for a break when the United States entered a holiday weekend following two mass shootings. President Biden will go to Yuvarde on Sunday to comfort the community again in the wake of an unthinkable loss.
All that remains is a large gap between the scale of the problem — more than 1,500 people were killed. More than 270 mass shootings According to Everytown for Gun Safety, since 2009, American political leaders can agree on the right response to the genocide.
Igor Volsky, Executive Director of GunsDown America, a gun control advocate, said: “This does not address the immenseness of the crisis we are facing, both in terms of mass shootings and the proliferation of everyday gun violence. None. Neither resets the conversation. I have not.”
Polling suggests that many Americans are eager for a broader reset.
According to the report, nearly 90% of adults in the United States support the idea of doing more to keep guns away from the hands of people with mental illness. Pew Research Center Survey last year. Approximately 80% of people also say that gun buyers need to undergo a background check, even if they buy the gun for personal sale or at a gun show.
However, the survey also reflects the growing polarization of countries where about 30 percent of adults say they own guns.
At the federal level, 51 percent of Americans Support national ban According to this month’s poll by the Associated Press and NORC, 32% oppose the sale of semi-automatic weapons similar to the AR-15 rifle. Three-quarters of Democrats were supportive, compared to just one-quarter of Republicans.
There is also a big gap between those who have a gun and those who do not. (Republicans are about twice as likely to own guns as Democrats.)
According to Pew, the vast majority of people who do not own guns ban large magazines and support creating a federal database to track the sale of all guns. Less than half of gun owners support the same limit. In contrast, the majority of gun owners prefer to arm teachers at school and allow people to carry hidden weapons in more places. This is a change that is widely opposed by people who do not own firearms.
Response to mass shootings in the United States Other developed countries In the world. Britain banned semi-automatic weapons and pistols after shooting in 1987 and 1996. Australia mandated the repurchase of guns after the 1996 massacre, and the incidence of mass shootings plummeted. Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Norway have all tightened gun control after horrific crimes.
For U.S. Republicans, even national tragedy, such as the last two major shootings, is enough to defeat the fear of offending supporters dismissed by former President Donald J. Trump over the past few years. May not be. Fox News and social media.
Since 2017, when Trump took office, Pew said, for example, support for a ban on assault weapons among gun owners has dropped from 48 percent to 37 percent.
The pressure that Republican elected officials felt to set the line between the members who supported their guns was apparent within hours of the horrifying news in Texas. The steady flow of Republicans has once again provided two steps that have worked for them over the years.
Republicans have used the delay in police response to Texas shootings as a way to shift the discussion to school security rather than more than a car accident. Major causes of death For American children aged 1 to 19 years, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
of Video that quickly became viralTexas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, accused the “violent psychopath” when asked by a British reporter in Yuvalde.
“If you wanted to stop violent crime, the Democrats’ proposal, none of them would have stopped it,” Cruz said. And in Washington, he hurriedly accused Democrats and the press to “try to limit the constitutional rights of citizens to comply with the law.”
Its rigidity by most Republicans over the last decade has contributed to a sense of pessimistic necessity between Congress and the White House Democrats. In a statement the day after the shooting in Texas, New York senator Chuck Schumer, the leader of the majority, said he accepted the “fact” that Republicans did not want to stop further killings.
Explaining his hope of finding a compromise, he said. It’s unlikely. Burned in the past. “
Murphy said he spoke with Biden’s White House staff on Friday. He said the president was eager to do whatever he could to support early negotiations on new gun safety measures.
“He can’t let go, he won’t let go,” Murphy predicts, “I think we can see him actively involved from the weekend to next week.” I added.
However, the president and his aides are still vigilant. There is little desire to pledge actions that Mr. Biden knows to fail and to set himself to look politically helpless. The aide also warned that too much presidential involvement could further politicize the debate and make it difficult for Republicans and Democrats to reach an agreement. And forcing moderate Democrats to take a symbolic and tough position could cost the party more seats in the midterm elections this fall.
White House officials have said it is equally clear to voters and lawmakers that Mr. Biden supports positive action on gun safety measures, not the Republicans. “This is not the case when Republicans are hiding their position,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Now, White House aides say it wasn’t long before the other party put off those proposals.
However, some activists have run out of patience in explaining it. They say Mr Biden could and must do more.
“In a recent speech to the public about the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, I asked the question,” Where is the name of God our spine? ” The child and family wrote to Mr. Biden on Friday. “We are now asking you this question as the leader of this country.”
Rodriguez urged Biden to take enforcement measures to make guns less accessible, such as changing the way gun sellers are defined to require background checks. And she convinces Senate Democrats to ban offensive weapons, raise the age limit for buying guns, and set aside filibusters to significantly expand the federal background check system. Prompted.
Mr. Volsky said he was deeply disappointed in what Biden called a lack of urgency after the shootings in Buffalo and Yuvarde.
“They are doing this learned action that you all say the right thing after such a tragedy,” he said of Democrats. “And when it all fails, you raise your arm and blame the Republicans. Absolutely pathetic.”
Murphy isn’t always optimistic, but he has more hope.
By taking a small step with the Republicans, he made slow but significant progress, just as gay rights and civil rights activists had small victories before they had big ones. He said it could accelerate decades of efforts to pass new gun safety measures.
Murphy said Republicans need to see evidence that they can vote on new gun limits and not be punished by voters. Anger over death in Buffalo and Yuvalde could give Republicans the opportunity to test the theory, he said.
“The story here may be that Congress is discussing a series of steps that are far less than what is needed to save the maximum number of lives,” Murphy admitted. “But I have another story: we didn’t do anything for 30 years. We did something important and it clearly moved the needle to our gun method. Then it would be historic. “
“It will happen,” he said, “breaking this log jam.”
