Mass shootings demand solutions from Congress on gun control
It’s time for Americans to demand a vote in Congress on meaningful gun control legislation. The mass shootings in Colorado and Georgia this month are only the latest of what has become a decades-long national disgrace. As of Tuesday, the United States has had 107 mass shootings in 2021, leaving 122 people dead and 325 injured. Since 2013, there have been more than 2,000 U.S. mass shootings, or roughly one per day. Enough is enough.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he was “devastated” by the killing of 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, Colo., and called on Congress not to “wait another minute” in enacting legislation to ban assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Boulder’s assault weapons ban, meant to stop mass shootings, was blocked just 10 days before the attack at a King Soopers grocery store as the result of a National Rifle Association lawsuit.
Passing a federal ban on assault weapons may not be possible under the current Senate filibuster rules, which would require 10 Republicans to support the legislation. Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell continues to oppose such a measure.
But there’s no excuse for Congress not to move forward on closing the loopholes on background checks for sales of firearms or requiring waiting periods before purchases to prevent impulsive violence. The House has already passed two bills aimed at doing just that.
A 2020 Gallup poll showed that 96% of Americans favored universal background checks on gun purchases. Even 84% of Republicans support them for purchases at gun shows or for other private sales. In a separate poll, 78% of gun owners, including 69% of NRA members, backed expanded background checks on sales of firearms.
This level of support demands action from Congress.
The Brady Background Check System, passed by Congress in 1994, has had some success, preventing an estimated 4 million prohibited gun transactions. But the law failed to require background checks for gun
purchases by private parties, commonly at gun shows or online. As a result, an estimated 22% of gun sales bypass the system.
The suspect accused of opening fire inside the Colorado supermarket was a 21-year-old man who purchased an assault weapon just six days before the attack, according to an arrest affidavit. It is still not known where the gun was bought or whether it was a legal purchase.
The man charged in the Atlanta mass shooting reportedly bought a gun on the same day of the shooting. He passed an instant background check and walked out of the store with his weapon. There was no waiting period.
The advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety conducted a 10-year study that showed one of every three mass shooters were legally prohibited from possessing firearms at the time of the shooting. Those
shootings resulted in 318 deaths and 87 injuries that could have been prevented with stronger background check laws.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.VA., said Tuesday that he does not support the House-passed legislation as currently written. One of the bills extends the window for completing a background check before a gun sale. The second would extend background checks to all sales and transfers with an exemption for transfers between family members.
Manchin said he wanted an expanded exemption for sales between individuals who know each other.
Debate on the issue is welcome. Compromise may be needed to pass meaningful legislation. But Congress must end the political stalemate on background checks and prevent guns from ending up in the hands of people who are legally prohibited from having a firearm.