Quoted:
As expected its blame those evil Republicans for opposing it.

Senate Republicans block assault weapons ban, background checks bill

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked efforts by Senate Democrats to pass an assault weapons ban and universal background checks legislation after the United States over the weekend broke the record for most mass shootings in a single year.

Republican Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) objected to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) request for unanimous consent to pass the assault weapons ban, despite the pleas of Democratic senators who took to the Senate floor to cite the harrowing statistics of gun violence in America.

“The scourge of gun violence in America is a national crisis. The American people are sick and tired of enduring one mass shooting after another. They’re sick and tired of vigil and moments of silence for family, friends, classmates, coworkers,” Schumer argued on the Senate floor.
The assault weapons ban, originally sponsored by late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), would ban semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips, forward grips and folding or telescoping stocks, as well as rifles outfitted with grenade launchers, barrel shrouds or threaded barrels to allow for noise and flash suppressors to be attached.  

But Barrasso argued that the Democratic-drafted bill would infringe on the Second Amendment and deprive law-abiding gun owners of an important liberty.  

“Americans have a constitutional right to own a firearm. Every day, people across Wyoming responsibly use their Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms,” he said. “Democrats are demanding that the American people give up their liberty.”  

He said that Democrats are trying to ban many types of semiautomatic firearms “because of the way they look.”

He asserted that popular rifles such as AR-15s “work the same way as popular shotguns and other rifles used for hunting and personal protection.”

“The Second Amendment is freedom’s essential safeguard. Without it, there can be no liberty and there can be no security. So Mr. President, I object.”  

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) later stood up on the floor to ask for unanimous consent to pass legislation to require universal background checks for firearms purchases.

“We don’t have more mental illness in this country, we don’t spend less money on law enforcement, we don’t have angrier people, we have more guns and we are much more permissive in this country about allowing felons, dangerous people, to get their hands on guns,” he said.

A Gallup poll conducted in June 2022 found that 92 percent of Americans favor requiring background checks for all firearm sales.

“This just feels like a test of democracy. It really does. Like, how does democracy survive if 90 percent of Americans, 90 percent of Republicans, 90 percent of Democrats want something, and we can’t deliver it?” Murphy asked before he asked for unanimous consent to pass the background checks bill.  

Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee took to the floor immediately to object.  

“I want to note at the outset we’re not asked to vote in this chamber on polling questions. We vote on legislation,” he said.  

He said the legislation to expand background checks “has some real problems with it.”  

“This is not solely about transactions involving guns at gun stores. This is about the father who wishes to pass down a hunting rifle to his son or the friend who wants to lend a shotgun to his neighbor who is in need of protection at the time,” Lee said before objecting to Murphy’s request.

Quoted:
As expected its blame those evil Republicans for opposing it.

Senate Republicans block assault weapons ban, background checks bill

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked efforts by Senate Democrats to pass an assault weapons ban and universal background checks legislation after the United States over the weekend broke the record for most mass shootings in a single year.

Republican Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) objected to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) request for unanimous consent to pass the assault weapons ban, despite the pleas of Democratic senators who took to the Senate floor to cite the harrowing statistics of gun violence in America.

“The scourge of gun violence in America is a national crisis. The American people are sick and tired of enduring one mass shooting after another. They’re sick and tired of vigil and moments of silence for family, friends, classmates, coworkers,” Schumer argued on the Senate floor.
The assault weapons ban, originally sponsored by late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), would ban semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips, forward grips and folding or telescoping stocks, as well as rifles outfitted with grenade launchers, barrel shrouds or threaded barrels to allow for noise and flash suppressors to be attached.  

But Barrasso argued that the Democratic-drafted bill would infringe on the Second Amendment and deprive law-abiding gun owners of an important liberty.  

“Americans have a constitutional right to own a firearm. Every day, people across Wyoming responsibly use their Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms,” he said. “Democrats are demanding that the American people give up their liberty.”  

He said that Democrats are trying to ban many types of semiautomatic firearms “because of the way they look.”

He asserted that popular rifles such as AR-15s “work the same way as popular shotguns and other rifles used for hunting and personal protection.”

“The Second Amendment is freedom’s essential safeguard. Without it, there can be no liberty and there can be no security. So Mr. President, I object.”  

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) later stood up on the floor to ask for unanimous consent to pass legislation to require universal background checks for firearms purchases.

“We don’t have more mental illness in this country, we don’t spend less money on law enforcement, we don’t have angrier people, we have more guns and we are much more permissive in this country about allowing felons, dangerous people, to get their hands on guns,” he said.

A Gallup poll conducted in June 2022 found that 92 percent of Americans favor requiring background checks for all firearm sales.

“This just feels like a test of democracy. It really does. Like, how does democracy survive if 90 percent of Americans, 90 percent of Republicans, 90 percent of Democrats want something, and we can’t deliver it?” Murphy asked before he asked for unanimous consent to pass the background checks bill.  

Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee took to the floor immediately to object.  

“I want to note at the outset we’re not asked to vote in this chamber on polling questions. We vote on legislation,” he said.  

He said the legislation to expand background checks “has some real problems with it.”  

“This is not solely about transactions involving guns at gun stores. This is about the father who wishes to pass down a hunting rifle to his son or the friend who wants to lend a shotgun to his neighbor who is in need of protection at the time,” Lee said before objecting to Murphy’s request.

Quoted:
. . . the assault weapons ban, originally sponsored by late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) . . .

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) introduced the House version of the Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act, which includes and builds upon Congressional Democrats’ strongest gun safety legislation in one bold, comprehensive bill that works to end the epidemic of gun violence in America.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced the Senate version of the bill.

“We’re in a gun violence crisis: 2023 is on track to see the most mass shootings in recent history, and gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and young people,” said Senator Warren. “This crisis demands big, structural change to protect kids in schools, victims of domestic violence in their homes, and Americans in communities across the country – so I’m renewing the push for my comprehensive."

“It’s painfully obvious that communities of color disproportionately bear the brunt of gun violence in the United States, particularly Black women, who are twice as likely as white women to be fatally shot by an intimate partner,” said Rep. Johnson. “Even when firearms are not used to kill or maim, they are used to threaten women at alarming rates. We know that 4.5 million women alive today have reported being threatened with a firearm. Commonsense gun laws -- like the Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act -- as well as direct investments in the communities that are most affected by gun violence are crucial to ending gun violence and saving lives. I commend Sen. Warren for taking comprehensive action to address the scourge of gun violence in our nation, and I’m proud to reintroduce its companion in the House.”

Every day — in their homes and on their sidewalks, in their schools and supermarkets, in their places of worship and workplaces — Americans are killed or injured by gun violence. As reported by the Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 620 mass shootings through December 1 of this year. That’s quickly closing in on the 645 mass shootings in the country last year – the worst year on record since the group began tracking them in 2014. There was a total of 690 mass shootings in 2021. According to Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, more than 100 people are killed with guns in the U.S. every single day, 4 of which are children or teens. This is a distinctly American crisis, with the U.S. having nearly half of the estimated 857 million civilian-owned guns in the world, and a gun homicide rate that is 25 times higher and a gun suicide rate that is 10 times higher than that of other comparable countries.

Since 2013, Georgia alone has suffered more than 160 mass shootings. More than 200 children and more than 560 teenagers have been killed or injured during that time, and more than 3,500 Georgians have lost their lives to gun violence. Federal law has failed to address this deadly epidemic. Federal gun laws are rife with loopholes and contradictions, and have been severely weakened by the gun industry, which has worked to hamstring meaningful regulation, shield the gun industry from liability, and weaken the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) — the agency tasked with enforcing gun laws.

The Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act would help address this deadly crisis. The bill would:

• Create a federal gun licensing system and require a federal or state-issued firearms license to purchase or own a gun and establish a grant program to help states set up their own systems.
• Require universal background checks, close legal loopholes that allow individuals to skirt background check requirements and require background check denials to be reported to law enforcement.
• Keep guns out of the wrong hands by banning individuals who present safety risks from buying guns, establishing Extreme Risk Protection Order systems, and cracking down on gun theft.
• Ensure guns are used and stored responsibly by raising the minimum age for all gun or ammunition purchases to 21, establishing a 7-day waiting period for the purchase of all guns, strengthening gun storage laws, and banning guns on all school campuses.
• Keep weapons of war off our streets by banning military-style assault weapons, lethal gun accessories, and untraceable and undetectable firearms.
• Crack down on gun trafficking by banning bulk gun purchases and establishing a new law to specifically ban gun trafficking.
• Improve oversight of gun dealers by strengthening ATF's authority to inspect gun shops, enhancing record-keeping requirements for gun dealers, and repealing harmful appropriations riders that limit law enforcement's ability to trace guns that are used in crimes and hold gun dealers accountable when they break the law.
• Hold the gun industry accountable by clarifying that gun manufacturers can be held liable for civil penalties for the harms their guns cause, authorizing the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to address safety defects in firearms and firearm accessories, and raising the excise tax on gun sales to 30% and ammunition sales to 50%.
• Invest in research and community-based gun violence prevention by providing $120 million in annual funding for federal research into gun violence and creating a new grant program to provide $120 million per year for gun violence intervention programs.

Democrats have been leading the fight to pass commonsense legislation to end gun violence and save lives. The Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act incorporates a number of bills led by other members. Cosponsors include Holmes Norton (DC), Lynch (MA), Quigley (IL), Moulton (MA), Napolitano (CA), Lee (CA), Goldman (NY), Trone (MD), McGovern (MA), Espaillat (NY), Keating (MA), Keating (MA), Trahan (MA), Wilson (FL), Shelia Jackson Lee (TX), Smith (WA), McClellan (VA) and Pressley (MA).

The legislation is supported by: Amnesty International, USA, Boston Medical Center, Esperanza United, Futures Without Violence, Giffords, Guns Down America, Jewish Women International, Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, March for Our Lives, Massachusetts Medical Society, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Council of Jewish Women, Newtown Action Alliance, States United to Prevent Gun Violence, and Stop Handgun Violence.

Quoted:
Idk if anyone said it in this thread so far, but the UNLV shooting seems a bit coincidental. Idk.

"We don't have more mental illness in this country, we don't spend less money on law enforcement, we don't have angrier people, we have more guns and we are much more permissive in this country about allowing felons, dangerous people, to get their hands on guns," he said.

Quoted:
God help us if Potato gets another damned term.

Quoted:
Seems like a pro 2A senator should propose an amendment to it...

"Any politician voting to restrict the 2A rights of US Citizens will be legally required to forgo ownership and use of arms and ammunition, and will be prohibited from the hiring, or use of armed security. Penalty for violation will be removal from the house and ineligibility to run for any elected position in the US."

Quoted:

Why didn't they pass it when they controlled both houses and the WH?
Oh, this is just theater.

Quoted:


I didn't include VT because I was only mentioning laws passed within the past 3 years. But I am sure more gun control is likely going up in VT eventually.

ME seems to be more resilient but it seems like a number of Democrats have changed stances recently the very unfortunate event recently. I think ME and VT are in better shape simply because they are already fairly safe, not too far off in homicides rates compared to Canada and can even be lower in some years. But that can change, and I can certainly see more gun control coming up in those states.

Even NH isn't that safe, nor is AZ. NH can easily flip back to Democrats and the Democrats there seem to be about as anti gun as more liberal north east Democrats. AZ is flipping, and their AG is officially speaking in support of California's magazine bans. Their margins are very thin. It would be quite crazy to see a state that is the most pro-gun flip so quickly.


TLDR: Many states are in trouble. CO, WA, IL MI - these are all larger population states. Not everyone can move to the handful of pro-gun states left.



More or less. Eventually some of it will get knocked out but it is probably only temporarily. 10-15 years from now can see a reversal of Bruen and/or Heller at the USSC. Historically the USSC seldom overturns its decisions but I think we will be seeing more of that in the future.