After the third apparent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in late April and the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in September, Democratic lawmakers condemned escalating political violence. But they did not call for moving any of their gun control priorities.
The lack of action shows how legislating on firearms has become nearly impossible on Capitol Hill, and how both parties have dug into their own rhetoric. Republicans continue to rally their base around opposition to any firearms control, while Democrats counter that steps should be taken to combat violence but have shown little appetite for that highly politicized fight ahead of the midterms.
Some of the Democrats who championed Congress’ sweeping gun safety reform package that passed in 2022 told NOTUS that apathy is a problem.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) helped lead bipartisan negotiations on the 2022 bill following several high-profile shootings, including one that killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“The unfortunate reality of this issue is that we don’t talk about it in the absence of a mass shooting,” Murphy said.
Some lawmakers and interest groups said Democrats need to do more to spotlight the issue in today’s era of heightened political threats.
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Florida), who was previously the national organizing director for the gun control group March For Our Lives, told NOTUS that Democrats should not wait to regain the majority to press for gun control.
“People want to talk about rhetoric, which I think is part of it, but the fact of the matter is, there’s tough rhetoric in politics around the world, and the amount of political violence in the United States is not touching other places. We should also be talking about the means of political violence,” Frost said.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) — whose wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head in an assassination attempt and now runs a gun violence prevention organization — said it’s imperative that Democrats draw the link between political violence and the abuse of firearms.
“If it’s violence where somebody is dangerous and shouldn’t get access to a firearm, well, there’s clearly stuff we can do about it,” Kelly said. “And we should. We need to continue to build the support to take action and to make the American people safe again.”
Source: Drudge Report
