Guns

Actor Matthew McConaughey appeared at the White House on Tuesday to talk about his hometown of Uvalde, Texas where 21 were killed by a mass shooter who bought assault weapons on his 18th birthday.

He told a story about one of the many children killed last month: Maite Rodriguez. She wore green converse high-tops to show off her love of the Earth and the environment. She drew a heart on the toe of the shoes. Many of the children were so unrecognizable that the only way they could be identified was from a DNA test comparing them to their parents. In the case of Maite, it was her shoes.

During an appearance at a Senate hearing on the mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store that preceded another mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, an expert on extremism warned that the United States is facing the "worst of both worlds" when it comes to trying to rein in the easy availability of high-powered weapons.

Pressed by Sen. Maizie Hirono (D-HI) on what the country is facing as lawmakers struggle to agree on what to do about the wave of gun-related violence that is plaguing the country, Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago painted a bleak picture.

Two of the most widely covered recent mass shootings were executed by 18-year-olds who legally purchased their assault rifles before slaughtering a total of 29 people. One specifically waited until his 18th birthday to legally purchase his weapons and ammunition.

But one of the top Senate Republicans negotiating with the Democratic-led efforts to hammer together a gun control deal says raising the minimum age for gun purchases isn't even being discussed right now. In fact, many reports make clear if any legislation actually comes together, it will be as non-controversial as possible and also highly ineffective. One top GOP Senator recently said tightening gun restrictions "not gonna happen."

On Monday, the far-right American Firearms Association sent a call to action to supporters urging them to do everything in their power to stop an emerging compromise on gun safety that appears to be taking shape in the Senate — including, potentially, engaging in a "battle" "all over the Capitol complex."

The fundraising email, flagged by Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post, claims that "we fully expect our systems to be attacked by nefarious, left-wing actors who want to shut our systems down."

Former Attorney General Eric Holder warned on Monday that the United States is "slipping into" a "political apartheid system" because conservatives have greater influence than their numbers would suggest.

During an interview with Washington Post Live, Holder said he was concerned that gerrymandering allows politicians to pick their voters instead of voters making the choice.

Gunmen killed at least 21 people, including children, in an attack on a Catholic church in southwest Nigeria on Sunday, local officials said, in violence that drew widespread international condemnation.

The bloodshed at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo town during a service was a rare assault in Nigeria's usually safer southwest and shocked a country grown used to jihadist attacks and mass kidnappings in the north.

With senators negotiating a gun control package that is expected to leave out a reinstatement of an assault weapons ban and expanded background checks on gun purchases, Rep. Don Beyer is proposing a unique method of keeping AR-15s and similar semiautomatic weapons out of people's hands.

The Virginia Democrat said late Sunday that he's drafting a proposal to impose a 1,000% excise tax on firearms like the ones used by numerous perpetrators of mass shootings in recent years.

While warning that lawmakers' continued inaction on gun control legislation will have "significant consequences" for democracy in the U.S., Sen. Chris Murphy on Sunday also tempered expectations regarding the ongoing bipartisan negotiations that began in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas late last month.

The Connecticut Democrat, a longtime advocate for gun control reform, told Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" that lawmakers have been discussing laws that were passed in Florida in 2018 following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, after which young survivors of the attack mobilized to demand action from policymakers.

Cable news spent the evening marveling at the shocking number of mass shootings over the weekend. Thus far, there were dead in mass shootings that took place in Philadelphia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Michigan.

By Sunday evening, another shooting was added to the list, said CBS17.

A former gun executive spoke to CNN on Sunday to explain that gun culture was once about hunting and target shooting, but after former President Barack Obama was elected, it became about something else.

Ryan Busse, writer of Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America, explained, "There's also this gun culture now developed since Barack Obama became president in 2008, but really a hateful conspiracy-driven, racist-driven gun culture that's on the fringes and that is the part of gun culture that's taken over much of the politics and spurred many people to march on Jan. 6 and part that's controlling the politics now."

A Republican caller suggested to C-SPAN that he was ready to "fight" and "die" in an insurrection against the government to protect his right to own firearms.

A caller named Gene told C-SPAN's Washington Journal that the Second Amendment was intended to protect citizens from a tyrannical government.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday was called out by ABC host George Stephanopoulos after he blamed mass shootings on "both sides" of the political spectrum.

During a segment about the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Christie said that he "wouldn't be doing much of anything" if he was still governor because New Jersey's gun laws are strong enough.

Major Republican donors, including some that have contributed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaigns, joined other conservative Texans in signing an open letter supporting congressional action to increase gun restrictions in response to the mass shooting in Uvalde that left 19 children and two teachers dead last week.

The letter, which is expected to run as a full-page ad in the Dallas Morning News on Sunday, endorses the creation of red flag laws, expanding background checks and raising the age to purchase a gun to 21. More than 250 self-declared gun enthusiasts signed it.