The nation is still reeling from last week’s horrific school shooting. 17 students and teachers were slain by a deranged 19-year-old. Gun Control advocates are pushing for change and Republicans are ready to listen. GOP members are cautiously approaching the issue.
“What we need is congressional leaders, specifically in my party, to allow some of these bills to come to the floor for debate,” Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla) said.
“There are a lot of Republicans who are prepared to support reasonable, common-sense gun safety laws, new laws, stronger laws that protect rights for responsible citizens, people who are responsible gun owners, but will prevent those who want to do harm to innocent people from obtaining these weapons.”
Conservatives are committed to protecting the Second Amendment. However, sensible gun safety laws don’t impede on anyone’s rights. An assault rifle ban is politically unfeasible but stricter background checks aren’t.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed a willingness to ban bump stocks, the device that Stephen Paddock used to transform his rifle into a fully-automatic one when he massacred dozens of people at a Las Vegas concert.
“I am fine with doing away with any instrumentality that converts a semi-automatic to a fully-automatic,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said.
Americans are demanding a change. Too many innocent lives have been lost in senseless shootings. Most people don’t support depriving law-abiding citizens on their right to bear arms, but there’s a lot of room between no change at all and an outright gun ban.
“We are putting more pressure on our system… to make sure that legislation gets to the floor,” Sen. Tim Scott told CBS.
“The reality of it is that we have a sense of urgency about getting this done. And I’m very hopeful that this is the time that we see this nation’s leadership united to solve a problem that could’ve prevented atrocities.”
Conservative voters might be willing to swallow a revamped background check system, and they can definitely get behind stricter enforcement of the laws that we already have. The FBI bungled multiple tips it received about mass shooters before they went on their sprees.
(Source: New York Post)