A man kneels in front of a memorial in the town square in front of the District Court building for the victims of the shooting at Rob Elementary School, three days after a gunman killed nineteen children and two adults in Uwalde, Texas, USA, May 27, 2022.
Marco Belo Reuters
Republicans and Democrats have continued to argue over gun control following a shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 21 people, with each country advocating many different solutions.
For Republicans, the answer lies in more security in schools and greater access to mental health care. Democrats, meanwhile, say easy access to military weapons is the real problem. As with other school shootings, few expect lawmakers to achieve much.
“It is inconceivable to me that we have not passed significant federal legislation in an attempt to tackle the tragedy of gun violence in this nation,” Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn, told ABC Sunday this week.
However, a handful of congressional officials told reporters on Sunday that they expected this time to be different.
Murphy said there were “serious” bipartisan talks on a new gun law designed to limit future shootings.
Negotiations with Republican senators include so-called red flag laws, which allow authorities to confiscate weapons from people at risk to themselves or others, expand the federal system for verifying the past, safekeeping requirements, mental health resources and increased funding for security for schools, he said.
“Every time, after one of these mass shootings, there are talks in Washington, and they never succeed,” Murphy added in This Week. “But this time there are more Republicans who are interested in talking about finding a way forward than I’ve ever seen since Sandy Hook. In 2012, a 20-year-old shooter shot dead 26 people, mostly 6- and 7-year-olds, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Senator Dick Durban, D-Ill., Echoed Murphy’s mood. “I feel different among my colleagues after Uwalde,” he told CNN’s The State of the Union. “America is sick and tired of political apologies.”
Representative Adam Kinsinger, R-Ill., Told CNN he would be ready for a ban or more regulations on possession of weapons of attack. Kinzinger, who has advocated for gun control in recent years, told ABC that raising the minimum age for buying weapons to 21 is “pointless.”
Kinzinger, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, said last October that he would not run for re-election after several members of his party essentially identified him as an exile.
Democrats will need 10 Republicans to vote on their side to move the measures forward. Other Republicans who could support some restrictions include Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, and Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is stepping down at the end of this congress.
Of course, there is still a Republican faction that says Democrat decisions will impose the rights of the Second Amendment. Representative Dan Crenshaw, R-Tex., Told CNN on Sunday that he was against red flag laws, universal checks on the past and raising the minimum age for buying weapons. Instead, Crenshaw called for increased security in schools.
Other Republicans who oppose or lean on the restrictions include Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Senator John Baraso of Wyoming, Senator Bill Hagarty of Tennessee, and Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama.