Guns

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said Monday that the Senate's legislation to try and fix mass shootings wasn't a gun bill. Instead, Cornyn says that the new legislation is actually a mental health bill.

The deal struck by the super-majority of 60 lawmakers will deny weapons to those who are mentally ill. Currently, the laws in place mandate that guns can only be taken away from those who are institutionalized. Oklahoma is the only state in the U.S. that has a law that bans such laws. It also limits the ability for the mentally ill to purchase assault rifles with an additional background check for anyone under 21.

The Democratic candidate for governor in Ohio was among the critics condemning Gov. Mike DeWine's decision on Monday to sign a bill permitting teachers to carry a gun to class after just 24 hours of firearms training—pointing out that educators will need far more training to renew their teaching licenses than to bring a deadly weapon into their classrooms.

"Teachers will need 180 hours to renew their teaching license so they can teach your kids, but only up to 24 hours of training to carry a gun around with them," Nan Whaley, who was the mayor of Dayton in August 2019 when a mass shooting there killed 10 people and injured 27, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "That is insane."

According to a report from the Washington Post, a bipartisan group of Senators have agreed to a "tentative agreement on legislation that would pair modest new gun restrictions with significant new mental health and school security investments."

Lawmakers led by Senators Chis Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) have been negotiating since the Uvalde, Texas massacre that took the lives of 19 elementary school children and two teachers weeks ago.

New research shows that states requiring licenses to purchase firearms have experienced “significant” reductions in the incidence of gun homicides and suicides, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is reporting.

It cited recent studies of two states: Connecticut, which had passed a firearms-purchaser licensing law in 1995; and Missouri, which had repealed a licensing law in 2005. The results were striking though predictable:

The word “evil” circulates widely in the wake of terrible public violence. The May 24, 2022, massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, is a case in point.

Texas state safety official Christopher Olivarez spoke of “the complete evil of the shooter.” Others expressed their resolve with the same word. “Evil will not win,” the Rev. Tony Grubin told the crowd at a vigil.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) worked with colleague Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) to pass gun safety legislation in 2013, thinking that they could pull off a bipartisan bill. Even though there was support for the bill, they didn't have a 60-vote supermajority to pass it. Once again, the filibuster came into play and Manchin, as we know, is unwilling to take steps to fix the filibuster.

Now that there is a renewed conversation over any possible gun safety legislation, the Senate has returned to face off against officials who refuse any gun safety measures, whether or not it has public support.

Authorities in North Carolina responded to a mall in Gastonia on Friday after three people were shot.

"Detectives from the Gastonia Police Department (GPD) have arrested and charged a 17-year-male with multiple felony offenses related to a multi-victim shooting that occurred this afternoon at the Eastridge Mall," the department announced. "Investigators have now determined that all the victims were shot in the mall parking lot and that the victims fled inside to the food court area of the mall after being shot. Detectives have also now determined that a male victim, who was believed to have been the fourth person shot in this incident and who self-transported to a hospital in Charlotte, was not shot during the Eastridge Mall incident. This individual is now believed to have been shot in a neighboring jurisdiction."

In what might be his most extreme display of anger on the House floor to date, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy Thursday morning attacked Democrats after a man was arrested after calling 911 saying he wanted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

"How many times do they have to be threatened?" McCarthy yelled, referring to conservative SCOTUS justices, some of whom have faced protests outside their homes in response to a leaked draft showing they will likely overturn Roe v. Wade.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) suggested on Thursday that Democrats may be planning "false flag" violence following the midterm elections.

During an interview with conservative broadcaster Steve Bannon on Real America's Voice, Gaetz outlined a conspiracy theory about the midterm elections.

U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) is attacking Democrats for not supporting his belief that the solution to mass school shootings is prayer.

"In debate last week and even today, to be told that we have no courage, that Democrats, we were told in debate last week, don't want to hear any more about social media, violent video games, Hollywood, mental illness, and they sure don't want to hear any more about prayers," said Gohmert, who just lost his attempt to become the next Texas state attorney general.

Responding to the increase in mass shootings Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday evening voted to raise the minimum age to buy semiautomatic weapons, like the popular AR-15 style assault rifle, from 18 to 21.

The measure passed 228-199, with all but ten Republicans voting against it. Two Democrats also opposed the bill.

By Brian Lopez, The Texas Tribune