While Republicans, along with the gun manufacturing lobbyists at the NRA, have pushed solutions to mass shootings since more than two dozen people were killed in Dayton and El Paso like “red flag” warnings against mentally ill people and banning video games, Democrats are proposing actual solutions to the problem.
The ease with which those intent on doing evil are able to get advanced body armor is shocking.
In addition to the House-passed background checks bill, it’s time to require anyone seeking sophisticated body armor to get sign-off from the FBI. https://t.co/uK9edb4T9Y
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 11, 2019
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced new legislation to ban the sale of body armor without FBI approval. Outside of military and law enforcement officials, the sale of body armor would be restricted to the public under this legislation, as it is a common purchase among those who plan mass shootings.
The NY Post quotes Schumer as saying that:
‘With the click of a mouse, scroll of a thumb, dialing of a phone, someone up to no good can get this. What we have learned is that a good number of those intent on mass shootings buy body armor. They want to kill as many people as possible.’
Assault weapons don’t belong in our communities. Period. As president, I’ll ban these military-style weapons and institute a buyback program that gets as many as possible off our streets. https://t.co/25ie9qBiSC
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 10, 2019
Vice President and current presidential candidate Joe Biden wants to reenact previous legislation banning the kind of guns that Americans can purchase. Automatic and semi-automatic weapons, also known as assault weapons, would be restricted for purchase as they were in 1994. As Biden himself notes, the Second Amendment does not say that the type of weapons available for purchase cannot be restricted and assault weapons that would fall under these categories are not used for hunting or for protection. Their sole purpose is for killing large numbers of people in a short amount of time.
The Washington Post reports:
‘Former vice president Joe Biden said Monday he would push for a federal gun buyback program to take more weapons off the streets, as one effort to contain the epidemic of mass shootings.
‘Biden also said that he would attempt to enhance background checks and reinstitute the assault weapons ban, which he helped push through in 1994 but was unable to reauthorize a decade later.’
When I’m president, I will send Congress comprehensive gun violence prevention legislation and sign it into law within my first 100 days. And we will revisit that legislation every single year based on new data to continually reduce the number of gun deaths in America. https://t.co/kN5lrUWmV1
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 11, 2019
No matter which piece of legislation can be agreed upon, the fact is that something must be done to curb the gun violence in the United States. The U.S. gun violence rate has soared in recent years and mass shootings are higher in the U.S. than in any other developed country.
According to NPR:
‘The United States has the 28th-highest rate of deaths from gun violence in the world: 4.43 deaths per 100,000 people in 2017 — far greater than what is seen in other wealthy countries.
‘On a state-by-state calculation, the rates can be even higher. In the District of Columbia, the rate is 16.34 per 100,000 — the highest in the United States. In Louisiana, the rate is 10.68 per 100,000. In Texas and Ohio — the scene of two mass shootings at the beginning of August — the rates are close to the national average: 4.74 per 100,000 in Texas and 4.60 in Ohio.
‘And the national rate of gun violence in the U.S. is higher than in many low-income countries.’
Mitch McConnell quietly crawled back to Kentucky this weekend to hide from calls for gun reform and election security legislation.
His speech at a local event was completely drowned out by #MoscowMitch chants.
You can't hide, Senator.
Video via @wkms pic.twitter.com/92qzbF2VqS
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) August 7, 2019
Featured image via Flickr by AFGE under a Creative Commons license
