Disturbing gun-related story
here from The Hill right on the heels of the Oxford school shooting in
Michigan with this headline:
“GOP blocks bill to expand gun
background checks after Michigan school shooting”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate
Judiciary Committee, blocked a request to proceed to legislation passed by the
House in March to expand background checks for gun sales, a priority that has
languished in Congress for years.
Story highlights
follow (to fit the blog):
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a leading advocate for gun
control legislation, asked the full senate for their unanimous consent to
proceed on the House bill. He cited the recent school shooting in at the Oxford
H/S in Michigan that left four students dead and nearly a dozen wounded.
Murphy said in his
remarks: “I want to tell you why I'm making this request. I understand the
low likelihood of success, but I hope many of my colleagues took a minute to
watch the cellphone video from the school shooting in Michigan. The video footage
is absolutely terrifying to watch.”
Murphy then recounted the chilling surveillance footage of the 15-year-old sophomore, Ethan Crumbley, seen emerging from a bathroom with a 9mm Sig Sauer SP 2022 pistol with a 15-round magazine and then firing at classmates and teachers.
He ended up firing more than 30 rounds before surrendering
and taken into police custody.
Sen. Murphy also noted that states that did not have universal background check requirements saw an 8% increase in violent crime compared to the national average in 2020.
He acknowledged: “That expanding background checks
wouldn't have necessarily stopped the shooting in Michigan but that it would
make a difference because all the data shows expanded background checks saves
lives, decreases gun violence, and decreases violent crime.”
The bill in question: “The Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021.”
Two very key provisions:
* It would require background check requirements for gun transfers
between private parties.
* It would also prohibit a firearm transfer between individuals
unless a licensed gun dealer or manufacturer conducts a background check.
Sen. Grassley,
however, blocked the request, calling it: “Hostile towards lawful gun
owners and lawful firearm transactions. This will not solve the problems that
it seeks to solve. So-called universal background checks will not prevent crime
and will turn otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals.”
Grassley then went on
to say that his own bill, sponsored with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Thom
Tillis (R-NC) would: “Increase requirements for government agencies to
accurately submit records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check
System (NICS) is a better proposal.”
Sen. Murphy said:
“That while that Republican bill has important pieces to it, it would
substantially reduce the number of background checks done in this country it is
a massive contraction of the universal background check system rather than what
Americans support, which is an expansion of the overall background check system,
and it would restore gun rights to individuals who are subject to psychiatric
confinement.”
Related:
· Everything we know about Ethan Crumbley
· His pre-shooting posted message: “Now I become death”
· Who are the shooting victims
· Ethan Crumbley’s journal probed by prosecutors regarding
his parents
My 2 Cents: All this (again) points to the GOP resistance and their hardline NRA supporters for practically no gun control measures with the false narrative that “Democrats want to take away your guns” — that falls pretty flat these days.
Sample from the past:
Common sense gun measure will ensure that the law is followed precisely including keeping guns away from kids like in this case wherein a 15-year old high school sophomore takes the gun from home (which is father had recently bought), goes to his school with one purpose: To shoot and kill as many people as possible.
Hopefully all that will soon be forthcoming and the 15-year old shooter will be handed a very stiff penalty for
his murdering rant.
Stay tuned – hopefully,
too this does not turn out to be another Rittenhouse-style trial outcome. Stay
tuned.
Thanks for stropping by.
No comments:
Post a Comment