Trump Warned by NRA Over Background Checks
“President Trump has repeatedly told lawmakers and aides in private conversations that he is open to endorsing extensive background checks in the wake of two mass shootings, prompting a warning from the National Rifle Association and concerns among White House aides,” the Washington Post reports.
“NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre spoke with Trump on Tuesday after the president expressed support for a background check bill and told him it would not be popular among Trump’s supporters.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“Where are your guts Mitch? Grab your cojones and do something.”
— Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), in a CNN interview, asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to vote on gun control legislation.
House Republicans Accuse McBath of Exploiting Shootings
The NRCC accused Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) of “a new low” claiming she’s “fundraising off of the recent mass shootings and using the tragedies to take cheap shots at her opponents.”
What the GOP attack doesn’t say: McBath became a gun control activist and got into politics because her son was shot and killed.
O’Rourke Offers Personal Cell Phone to Shooting Witness
This is quite a moment caught on video: Beto O’Rourke meets Sean Nixon, a Walmart employee who witnessed the mass shooting last weekend.
O’Rourke asked if he was getting counseling, offered his personal cell number and said to call if he needs help.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I can tell you that there is no political appetite for that at this moment.”
— President Trump, quoted by Reuters, dismissing legislative proposals to ban assault weapons.
Trump Has Quietly Expanded Gun Access
Politico: “While Trump boasts of action on firearms, his administration has actually eased gun restrictions over the past two and a half years. Federal agencies have implemented more than half a dozen policy changes — primarily through little-noticed regulatory moves — that expand access to guns by lifting firearms bans in certain locations and limiting the names on the national database designed to keep firearms away from dangerous people.”
“The administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn New York City restrictions on transporting handguns outside homes. And it pushed to allow U.S. gunmakers to more easily sell firearms overseas, including the types used in mass shootings… His gun control measures were narrow, lengthy and, in the case of the bump stock ban, could be reversed by the next president because it is not written into law.”
Obstacles to Action on Gun Control
Playbook: “It doesn’t seem as if either the Senate or House is going to interrupt its six-week vacation to come back to pass gun control legislation. So here are a few challenges worth thinking about over this August.”
“Since no one is coming back immediately, keeping gun control in the front of the country’s consciousness could be difficult, Democrats tell us. The news moves incredibly quickly, so we could be three crises from now in early September, when Congress has to come back into session.”
“The president has endorsed various forms of gun-control legislation before backing away. Can anyone keep him focused until September, when Washington snaps back into action?”
‘Red Flag’ Bills Pick Up Momentum
New York Times: “Congressional Republicans, under intense pressure to respond to this weekend’s massacres, are coalescing around legislation to help law enforcement take guns from those who pose an imminent danger — a measure that, if signed into law, would be the most significant gun control legislation enacted in 20 years.”
“Such ‘red flag’ laws might not be as momentous — or controversial — as the now-expired assault weapons ban or the instant background check system, both of which were enacted in 1994 as part of President Bill Clinton’s sprawling crime bill.”
What Are Republicans Afraid Of?
Catherine Rampell: “It’s almost funny, in a twisted sort of way. Election after election, Republicans have based their core political appeal on fear.”
“And yet — as dual gun massacres this weekend starkly illustrate — they refuse to offer solutions to any of the mortal threats Americans actually face.”
What Republicans Admit Privately
Playbook: “Republicans will say privately that they know they are on the wrong side of contemporary political thinking — and reality — when it comes to gun policy. Many of them will say off the record or on background that they could get away with supporting banning assault weapons, banning high-capacity magazines and tightening background checks. But they need Trump to embrace these ideas as well — and consistently. The president tends to pop his head up, support something and then retreat.”
Republicans Fear ‘Extinction in the Suburbs’
Bloomberg: “After two gruesome mass shootings in a 24-hour span, some Republicans are raising alarms that their opposition to new firearm limits is making the party toxic to the suburban women and college graduates who will shape the 2020 election.”
Trump Made It Easier for Mentally Ill to Get Guns
“President Trump responded to the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings by insisting that ‘mental illness pulls the trigger not the gun,’ but shortly after taking office he quietly rolled back an Obama-era regulation that would have made it harder for people with mental illness to buy guns,” NBC News reports.
“Trump did so without any fanfare. In fact, the news that Trump had signed the bill was at the bottom of a White House email that alerted the media to other legislation signed by the president.”
“And it came after the House and Senate, both of which were Republican-controlled at the time, passed a bill, H.J. Res 40, which revoked the Obama-era regulation.”
Obama Releases Statement Implicitly Criticizing Trump
Former President Barack Obama issued a statement demanding action on gun control in the aftermath of the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings.
Although he did not mention his successor by name, Obama called on Americans to “soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.”
Obama argued that such language is “at the root of most human tragedy throughout history.”
It’s Not Right to Blame Mental Illness
Rosie Phillips Davis, president of the American Psychological Associates, released a statement on the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton:
Routinely blaming mass shootings on mental illness is unfounded and stigmatizing. Research has shown that only a very small percentage of violent acts are committed by people who are diagnosed with, or in treatment for, mental illness.
The rates of mental illness are roughly the same around the world, yet other countries are not experiencing these traumatic events as often as we face them. One critical factor is access to, and the lethality of, the weapons that are being used in these crimes. Adding racism, intolerance and bigotry to the mix is a recipe for disaster.
Pelosi and Schumer Demand Senate Action on Gun Bill
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released a joint statement calling for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring the Senate back from recess and vote on the House-passed background check bill in wake of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, NBC News reports.
Nadler Compares Trump Reaction to Nazi Germany
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) told MSNBC that President Trump’s response to mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton over the weekend “reminds me of the 1930s in Germany.”
Said Nadler: “What’s connection between background checks and immigration reform? That we have to keep guns out of the hands out of the invading hordes?”
GOP Lawmaker Blames Obama for Mass Shootings
Ohio state Rep. Candice Keller (R) blamed the mass murders in Dayton over the weekend on gay marriage, recreational marijuana, video games and former President Barack Obama among other things, WBNS reports.
Keller began her post by saying “liberals start the blame game” after every mass shooting and “why not place the blame where it belongs?”
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