Guns

On Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tweeted a short video of himself firing an AR-15 style assault weapon.

"In 1994, there was an Assault Weapons Ban – the evidence indicates that there was really no change at all in crime, because the crooks are going to get a gun!" wrote Graham. "Today at @PalmettoArmory I fired one of the weapons they are trying to ban."

A gunman shot and killed four people including a 9-year old boy late Wednesday night, and the victims and suspect knew each other, Orange County, California police said Thursday.

The "preliminary motive" is "believed to be related to a business and personal relationship," police said at a news briefing, "which existed between the suspect and all of the victims."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is planning a photo op at a shooting range in South Carolina just days after he said that he owns an AR-15 assault-style rifle to shoot "gangs."

In an announcement on Wednesday, Graham said that he would visit the Palmetto State Armory in Greenville, where he will "show support for the Second Amendment and opposition to the proposed Assault Weapons Ban."

Democrats were again reminded on Monday that Republicans will continue to obstruct legislation until the filibuster is reformed.

"Sen. Mitt Romney on Monday indicated he will not support attempts to tighten federal gun laws in the wake of recent back-to-back mass shootings, although he's open to working with his colleagues on improving background check technology," The Salt Lake Tribune reported after the Republican met with the newspaper's editorial board.

Sen. Lindsey Graham's admission on Fox News that he owns an AR-15 to fight off hoards of "gangs" coming to his house after a natural disaster was greeted with rolled eyes and massive mockery on Sunday morning -- with one critic dismissing his boast by writing, "Only gang he will see are selling cookies."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) insisted on Sunday that he needs an AR-15 assault-style rifle to prepare for "gangs" that might attack him following a natural disaster.

While interviewing Graham on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked the senator about a push from Democrats to enact a new assault weapons ban following two recent mass shootings.

When an Iowa sporting goods store turned "heavily armed and agitated" Adam Vannoy over to the ATF after refusing to sell him an AR-style assault rifle -- and the feds arrested him -- it certainly qualified as a news story.

Vannoy, a Nebraskan, had said, "he was surprised his friends didn't suspect he was the Boulder mass shooter" and that he had 500 rounds of ammunition in his truck. So the Sportsman's Warehouse store in Ankney, Iowa did the right thing by calling the feds after rejecting Vannoy. You don't see that every day.

The National Rifle Association is in chaos amid growing calls for gun control following mass shootings at spas in Georgia and at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

"The group has been plagued by infighting and allegations of self-dealing and is defending itself against a sweeping lawsuit filed in August by the New York attorney general that alleges that the organization violated its nonprofit status as its top leaders allegedly raided the organization's coffers for personal gain," The Washington Post reported Saturday.

NBC White House correspondent Shannon Pettypiece this week asserted that gun safety reform and voting rights are "far-left issues."

Pettypiece made the remark during a discussion on MSNBC about Democrats' efforts to move voting rights legislation forward.

On CNN Wednesday, anchor Poppy Harlow challenged Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) for his opposition to expanded background checks on gun purchases — and corrected the congressman's false claims about what was in the bill he voted against.

"You did vote against H.R. 8 in the House," said Harlow. "And that's a bill that would mandate background checks for private sales between private parties or guns sold on the internet. Why is that a bad idea, in your mind?"

Pro-gun groups such as the National Rifle Association have long argued that more Americans should be armed with deadly weapons on the grounds that the country needs more "good guys with guns" to stop "bad guys with guns."

CNN's Alisyn Camerota on Wednesday explained how the mass shooting that killed ten people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado completely undermines that entire argument.

Reacting to Republican senators already moving on past the tragic mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, that took ten lives, former Republican National Committee head Michael Steele helped open MSNBC's "Morning Joe" by criticizing the party he once headed for already denying action needs to be taken to get guns off the street.

Speaking with co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, Steele expressed disgust at Republicans only offering "thoughts and prayers" instead of solutions once again.

"It has been a lie that's been promulgated, perpetuated and just rolled out at moments like this for the last 20 years or so. And the reality is exactly in the space that you've described," Steele began. "The Supreme Court has given us the clarity that we need on the Second Amendment and what it means and what it doesn't mean with respect to individual liberties."

Addressing comments made by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Kennedy (R-LA), he continued, "What you heard yesterday is what we've heard before: 'thoughts and prayers but we ain't doing crap,' and the American people are tired of that. As you noted, this is a 70 to 80 percent issue with the American people -- there aren't a whole lot of issues on that list, just go through it."

"For Democrats, just move to that space where you can have the conversation," he added. "For Republicans, since you're so hot about all they're going to take our guns -- put a proposal on the table that you think will address the issues as Ted Cruz and others have noted. So, we're going to do this dance, we've done it before. We've heard it before in Columbine, Aurora -- you name it. After all of these horrific events, our legislatures get in the room and they say exactly what they just said. You could have taken tape, Joe, after Columbine, after Aurora, any of these events. Just play it, put it on a loop."

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