GOP LAWMAKERS CONTINUE TO IGNORE GUN ISSUES W/ U.S. MASS SHOOTINGS

…Acting White House Chief of Staff, Nick Mulvaney

The GOP is aware that their major donor is the National Rifle Association

Listed below are some of the GOP’s key law makers non-response, or stupid response to the latest mass shootings.  Over 13 hours, 29 people were killed in two separate mass shootings, not to mention the 3 people killed and 12 injured 7 days before at the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California.

It is somewhat disgusting that most elected Republicans will only offer “thoughts and prayers” to the victims and their families, and only a few offer any comment about the need for any reasonable gun laws.

Instead, their blame is placed on everything from social media, immigration, mental health, to the Internet and video games.

It’s obvious that these areas do have some effect on those that become mass shooters.  But having millions of more guns that any other nation, and the fact that virtually anyone over 21 can legally get their hands on an assault rifle and large magazines that hold over 100 bullets, it’s very easy to become a mass shooter in the US.

On top of all that, the NRA represents the gun manufacturers, not the American gun owners.

Most Americans don’t realize that the Republican Party, controls the power in Washington and in both the states where America’s most recent mass shootings occurred.

But as usual, the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, they once again cited the influence of social media and video games or mentioned mental health problems.  But on the question of how to stem the rising tide of gun violence, the overwhelming response from the GOP was silence or the usual generalities.

The president’s lip service to it being an invasion of immigrants mirrored how the GOP has responded after other mass shootings whose city names have become painfully familiar to most Americans: i.e. Parkland, Fla.; Sutherland Springs, Tex.; Las Vegas; Virginia Beach; Pittsburgh and Annapolis, Md.  They can now add, Gilroy, CA, Dayton,OH and  El Paso, TX.

A handful of Republican lawmakers on Sunday endorsed stricter gun controls, but most in the GOP ignored Democratic demands that the Senate abandon its summer recess and return to Washington to address the issue. The House has passed two bills that Senate Majority Leader “Moscow” Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has refused to consider.

The Post spoke to Democratic presidential candidate and former congressman, Beto O'Rourke (Tex.), about the shooting in El Paso a day earlier  Beto O'Rourke rightly says: ”Trump and his Fox News fueled the El Paso shooting!”

Congress has been unable to agree on sweeping gun legislation since the 1990s. Lawmakers tried, and failed, after the 2012 shootings in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 young children, but the National Rifle Association’s support for the party and the gun manufacturers stopped any legislation.  In addition, demands from rural voters and bogus Republican warnings about undermining our Second Amendment rights have made it nearly impossible for lawmakers to take any steps forward.

Senate Democrats demanded more aggressive steps, calling on McConnell to schedule votes on at least the two bills passed by the House, focusing on background checks for gun purchases and transfers.

“Why run for Congress if you aren’t prepared to pass laws that make people safer?” asked Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “These shooters, contemplating mass slaughter, take note of their government’s inaction, and they infer this silence as endorsement.”

The two bills represent the first significant legislation restricting gun rights to be approved by either the House or Senate since just after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre outside Denver. The first bill, receiving 240 votes, with just eight Republicans voting “yes”, would extend existing laws to require background checks for all gun sales and most gun transfers.

The second bill, which passed with support from three Republicans, aims to close the “Charleston loophole,” a reference to the 2015 shooting in South Carolina. The gunman was able to purchase the weapons after a three-day federal background check failed to turn up a prior conviction, and this proposal would extend that window for completing a background check to at least 10 business days.  Of course, it should be 30 days.

Trump has threatened to veto both measures, and any cancellation of the Senate’s recess is highly unlikly because McConnell, who fractured his shoulder Sunday morning in a fall outside his Louisville home, as expected, he declined to address Democratic calls for a special session.

Some House Democrats called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to call their chamber back into session to press for more aggressive gun-control legislation than the latest modest proposals on background checks.

Republicans on the Sunday morning news shows made little mention of gun control legislation. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said the Trump administration was willing to have a “broad-based discussion” about the causes of mass shootings.  But he emphasized factors like social media in addition to weaknesses in the background-check system.

“We’ve had guns in this country for hundreds of years. We haven’t had this until recently, and we need to figure out why,” Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney ignored the fact that much of rise in the nation's White Supremacy actions has been due to the president's comments at his campaign rallies in support of these actions.

On the Fox News Channel, the commentator called the El Paso shooting “evil,” raised the issue of social media, including the Internet message board called, 8chan.   They also referenced a part of the shooter's manifesto in which the writer mentioned the Call of Duty video game franchise.  Authorities are investigating whether the alleged gunman actually wrote the manifesto himself, or did he have help...?

“We’ve always had guns. We’ve always had evil. But what’s changed where we see this rash of shooting? And I see a video game industry that teaches young people to kill,” the Fox News commentator said.  But video games are not the sole reason for this as many nations have these same video games, but only in the US do we continue to have scores of mass shootings.

“I have long supported closing loopholes in background checks to prevent the sale of firearms to criminals and individuals with serious mental illness,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a statement, referring to a bipartisan measure by Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.).  Yes, these shooters are sick, but you can't blame it all on mental illness.  If that were the case, there are many mentally sick sick people all over the world, but in these other countries, the mentally sick don't get guns and start shooting masses of people they've never met.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who introduced a federal red-flag bill last year, on Saturday renewed his call for Congress to pass the legislation. Such laws allow family members and law enforcement to obtain court orders to keep guns away from people believed to be dangerous.  A good idea, but we need much, much more, such as banning assault rifles and magazines that hold more that 10 bullets.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, nephew of former president George W. Bush, issued a statement Saturday denouncing the El Paso attack and declaring that “all terrorism must be stopped.  I proudly served in Afghanistan as a Naval officer where our mission was to fight and kill terrorists,” he tweeted. “I believe fighting terrorism remains a national priority. And that should include standing firm against white terrorism here in the US.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) delivered one of the more forceful condemnations among GOP lawmakers of the El Paso shooter’s act. He pointed to his own heritage as the son of a Cuban immigrant and described himself as “deeply horrified by the hateful anti-Hispanic bigotry” contained in a manifesto that investigators believe was posted online by the suspected gunman.

“We must speak clearly to combat evil in any form it takes,” Cruz said in a tweet. “What we saw yesterday was a heinous act of terrorism and white supremacy. There is no place for this in El Paso, in Texas, or anywhere across our nation.”

Of course, Senator Cruz provided no suggestions for steps Congress might take to prevent such shootings in the future.

Americans’ are angry over congressional inaction, and it briefly spilled over into public view on Sunday before the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks squared off in Phoenix.

The deep-voiced public address announcer asked everyone inside Chase Field to stand for a moment of silence in honor of the Dayton and El Paso victims.

It was quiet for a second, but then a fan yelled: “How about doing something about it?” A few others joined in with claps and encouragement.

Then the silence broke, the announcer thanked the crowd, and the national anthem was sung.

Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-OH), whose district includes Dayton, said his daughter and a family friend had just entered the Tumbleweed Connection bar when the shooting began across the street. They fled and later recounted the “bravery they witnessed as officers ran toward the gun shots,” he said in a tweet.  But as usual, no suggestion for some solutions.

However, to show that the basic American public is getting fed up with the Republican's non-action, in a crowd that had gathered Sunday night to mourn the victims of the mass shooting in Dayton, they started chanting “Do Something” over and over as Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) took the stage to address the crowd.

Copyright G. Ater 2019