Flake, Trump Jr. spar on Twitter over guns
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump Jr. and Republican Sen. Jeff Flake are engaging in a war of words over Twitter.
The Arizona lawmaker, one of the most vocal GOP critics of President Donald Trump, tweeted Tuesday about his bill that would bar anyone convicted of domestic violence in military court from purchasing a weapon.
The gunman who killed 26 people at a Texas church Sunday was able to purchase weapons because the Air Force failed to submit his criminal history to the FBI as required by law.
Trump Jr. responded to Flake, “Incredibly proactive considering that law has been on the books since the mid 90s.”
Flake answered, “If being proactive means closing the #DomesticViolenceLoophole exploited by the #SutherlandSprings Texas shooter, you’re right.”
The president’s eldest son then tweeted: “Wrong. Govt employees, like you, failed to do their job. He did a year for abuse & fracturing his kids skull. Should not have had a gun!”
Flake tweeted prior to a Capitol Hill news conference with Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., in which the two lawmakers announced the introduction of a bill that would require the military to identify cases of domestic violence offenders and submit the names to the database of prohibited gun buyers.
Flake explained that the military has no defined charge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for domestic violence. Consequently, cases fitting those circumstances went unreported in what he described as an “egregious oversight.”
The federal Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits firearm sales to someone who has been convicted of a domestic violence offense. However, since 2007, the military has submitted only one domestic violence offender to the database, the lawmakers said.
“Unless we are to assume there had been only one case of domestic violence in the military over that period of time, then we have a problem, we have a loophole here that needs to be closed,” Flake said.
Prospects for the legislation were unclear as the Republican-led Congress has been reluctant to vote on any bill tightening gun controls.