Washington lawmakers are hoping the public outcry after recent mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa will give them the momentum needed to pass gun reform legislation. President Joe Biden urged congressional action Thursday night during a speech from the White House, in which he said everyday places have become “killing fields.”
The president reiterated his support for ending liability protections for gun manufacturers so gun violence victims can file lawsuits and again called for a ban on so-called assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“For God’s sake, do something,” President Biden said. “The Second Amendment, like all other rights, is not absolute.”
The House of Representatives is considering a bill that Democrats describe as “robust gun omnibus legislation.” If passed, it would raise the legal purchasing age for assault-style weapons from 18 to 21 and would make it a federal offense to sell or possess high-capacity magazines. The legislation is a combination of multiple bills and has dozens of provisions.
“The American people are hungry for real solutions to the unconscionable wave of gun violence that is sweeping our country. The time for stalling, obstruction and obfuscation in the face of senseless killing after senseless killing is over,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement.
Republicans said the legislation is rushed and poorly written. They argued the proposed red flag laws would be punitive and could be used by ill-intentioned people to take guns away from mentally fit, law-abiding citizens. They cited the lack of evidence needed to get a court order for gun seizure.
They also had problems with the bill’s definitions of high-capacity magazines.
“Here’s a 12-round magazine. This magazine would be banned under this current bill, it doesn’t fit,” Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said as he held up his handgun and demonstrated the difference in size between the gun and magazine.
Rep. Stuebe argued if the magazines for his handguns are made illegal as proposed, then his handguns would also effectively be banned.
Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., are leading the negotiations in the Senate. Cornyn told Politico in a recent interview he has red lines and would only be willing to go so far on gun reform.
“I’m not talking about restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens under the Second Amendment,” Cornyn told Politico. “I’m talking about identifying people with criminal and mental health problems that are a threat to themselves and others.”
There are bipartisan discussions taking place throughout the Senate in hopes of reaching a compromise that will receive the 60 votes needed to pass a bill in that chamber.
