Recent Mass Shootings Renew Gun Control Push
Two mass shootings have happened in the span of a week. Expectedly, firearm regulations have flared up. First, in Atlanta, GA a shooter killed eight people at several massage parlors, six of whom were Asian Americans. Due to the fact that a white man killed seven Asian massage therapists, many have called the shooting a racially charged hate crime. To the contrary, the shooter, Robert Aaron, claimed that he is a sex addict who wanted to “remove temptation.” The leadership at Aaron’s church subsequently removed him as a church member saying that they “can no longer affirm that he is truly a regenerate believer in Jesus Christ.” Additionally, the church stated that each man is responsible for his own sin and that the massage therapists were not to blame.
Second, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa opened fire at a grocery store in Boulder, CO killing ten people, including a police officer who responded to the scene. Relatives claim that Alissa was often paranoid and may have a mental disorder.
“Never let a good crisis go to waste.” That seems to be an unfortunate rule of politics. With two terrible shootings occurring very close in time to one another, there has been a renewed effort among Democratic politicians to further the gun control agenda commonly associated with the Democratic Party. President Biden has urged Congress to pass stricter gun control legislation. Specifically, Biden called for the banning of “assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.” Biden continued, “I got that done as a senator. It brought down mass shootings, we can do it again.”
Besides pushing for Congressional action, the Biden Administration may be planning to utilize executive orders to bypass Congress. However, it is unclear what actions the President could successfully take, seeing as using executive powers to bypass the law-making body of government to infringe upon a Constitutional right would be problematic. Former President Barrack Obama also called for law-makers to “make it harder for those with hate in their hearts to buy weapons of war” by overcoming “cowardly politicians” and “the gun lobby.” President Biden regularly seeks counsel from Obama.
Obama and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have both called gun-violence an “epidemic.” Additionally, Schumer stated that he would push Senate Democrats to consider legislation that closes the so-called gun show loophole and restricts who can purchase a firearm.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has called for an end to the filibuster in order to pass gun control legislation. The filibuster is based on the principle that there should be free and open debate on any topic. Although the House of Representatives has limited the filibuster, any member of the Senate can talk for as long as he wants. Although originally designed to promote healthy debate and discussion, politicians on both sides of the aisle use the filibuster to prevent a vote from taking place on a particular bill. It takes sixty votes to overcome the filibuster in the Senate. Warren has been calling for an end to the filibuster for some time. She recently faced embarrassment after she called the filibuster racist despite that Warren used the filibuster to block a Black Senator’s, Tim Scott’s, bill.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is considered a swing vote on a number of issues due to his centrist tendencies. He often votes in accordance with Republicans on firearm related issues. Earlier this month, Manchin declared that he would block climate change legislation unless Republicans could negotiate. Recently, he said that he does not support the legislation being pushed by Schumer and Biden.
For better or worse, crises motivate action. However, conservatives more strongly believe in maintaining the status quo. As such, progressives (in any age, not just in the contemporary American sense) usually have an advantage when a crisis or disaster occurs. However, Senators Ted Cruz and Chuck Grassley, both Republicans, have reintroduced a firearm related bill in an attempt to satiate the desire for change and ‘progress.’ Cruz and Grassley’s bill, named the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act, would create a gun violence task force. The bill would also tighten the requirements for federal agencies reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which could help prohibit those legally barred from firearm ownership from acquiring such a weapon.
Cruz remarked:
“What happens in this committee after every mass shooting is Democrats propose taking away guns from law abiding citizens because that's their political objective.…
We will learn in the coming days and weeks the exact motivation of the murderers in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado. We'll learn what happened there. But we already know this pattern is predictable over and over and over again, there are steps we can take to stop these crimes. And you know what the steps aren't? The steps aren't disarming law abiding citizens.”
Cruz and Grassley made a smart political decision in reintroducing their bill. Because of their actions, Democrats are less able to accuse Republicans of refusing to take action when an emotionally charged tragedy strikes.
Douglas Phillips is a native Texan, having been born and raised in the Lone Star State. He writes on political philosophy and current events.
