McConnell rejects U.S. mayors' demand for Senate action on gun bills, after shootings

[webfact]

McConnell rejects U.S. mayors' demand for Senate action on gun bills, after shootings

By Brendan O'Brien and Amanda Becker

 

FILE PHOTO: El Paso Mayor Dee Margo speaks with the media at a memorial four days after a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 7, 2019. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare/File Photo

 

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday rejected a plea from more than 200 mayors to call the Senate back early to consider new gun legislation, following two weekend mass shootings that left 31 people dead.

 

The 214 mayors, including those of El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, which were the scenes of the weekend massacres, in a letter to the Senate majority leader and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged the Senate to vote on legislation already approved by the House of Representatives expanding background checks for guns sales without waiting for the end of the Senate's summer recess.

 

"The tragic events in El Paso and Dayton this weekend are just the latest reminders that our nation can no longer wait for our federal government to take the actions necessary to prevent people who should not have access to firearms from being able to purchase them," said members of the United States Conference of Mayors who signed the letter.

 

McConnell said he has asked for bipartisan discussions on the matter, including possible restrictions on assault gun sales.

 

“We’re going to have these bipartisan discussions and when we get back (from the recess), hopefully, be able to come together and actually pass something," McConnell said in an interview with Kentucky radio station WHAS. "I want to make a law and not just see this kind of political sparring going on.”

 

Asked about restrictions on assault weapons, McConnell said, “That will probably be discussed as well. It’s certainly one of the front and center issues." But he said "background checks and red flags would probably lead the discussions.”

 

Republican President Donald Trump, he said, “is very much open to this discussion.”

 

Red flag laws allow courts and local law enforcement to remove guns from people who are deemed to present an imminent risk of danger to communities.

 

During a campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris called on McConnell to bring the Senate back and hold a vote on the legislation.

 

"It is well within the power and the responsibility of the United States Congress to act in the best interest of the safety and well being of the American people," Harris said. "And Congress, from my perspective, has been feckless on this issue and the rest of society is paying a price."

 

NRA CITES AN "INCONVENIENT TRUTH"

The National Rifle Association (NRA), a key donor to many Republican senators, indicated in a statement on Thursday it will oppose any further gun restrictions.

 

“I’m not inclined to discuss private conversations with President Trump or other key leaders on this issue,” the NRA's chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, said in a statement.

 

“But I can confirm that the NRA opposes any legislation that unfairly infringes upon the rights of law-abiding citizens," he said. "The inconvenient truth is this: the proposals being discussed by many would not have prevented the horrific tragedies in El Paso and Dayton."

 

The Democratic-led House in February passed a bill calling for universal background checks for gun buyers. The measure would close loopholes that have allowed some sales over the internet and at gun shows to be finalized without background checks.

 

A second bill also passed by the House in February would extend to 10 business days, from the current three, the amount of time for the background checks if information on a gun sale application is incomplete.

 

Neither has been taken up by the Republican-controlled Senate. The White House earlier this year floated veto threats against both bills. On Wednesday, Trump said he wanted to strengthen background checks for gun purchases as he left the White House to visit Dayton and El Paso.

 

"The Republicans are held by the throat by the NRA," Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren told a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Wednesday night. "Enough is enough."

 

The mayors, including El Paso's Dee Margo, a Republican, and Dayton's Nan Whaley, a Democrat, urged early voting on the two background checks bills, pointing out that the United States has had 250 mass shootings so far in 2019.

 

"This is common sense gun legislation that the vast, vast majority of Americans support," Whaley said during a call with reporters on Thursday. "All we are asking is for Congress to do their job to help our communities be more safe."

 

Among those who signed the letter were the mayors of Orlando, Florida, where 49 people were killed at a nightclub in June 2016; Parkland, Florida, where 17 were massacred in a high school in February 2018; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where 11 people were slain in a synagogue in October 2018; and Annapolis, Maryland, where five people were killed at a newspaper office in June 2018.

 

Two Democratic mayors who are running for president also signed the letter: Pete Buttigieg, of South Bend, Indiana, and New York City's Bill de Blasio.

The NRA accused U.S. presidential candidates of using the shootings for political gain.

 

"Unfortunately, aspiring presidential candidates immediately took to the airwaves this past weekend to politicize these tragedies, and to demonize the NRA and its 5 million law-abiding members," the gun rights lobby said.

 

(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty, Bill Berkrot and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-09

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[samran]

Moscow Mitch running the NRA talking points about not politicizing the issue, while the NRA behind be scenes threatening anyone who goes near sensible reform with electoral annihilation.  

 

Edited August 9, 2019 by samran

[wreckingcountry]

Country incapable of reform ! The Wild West !


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[pegman]

1 minute ago, wreckingcountry said:

Country incapable of reform ! The Wild West !


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Sad, but likely true. Can anyone give us a single redeeming factor of good old Mitch?

[Bluespunk]

Guns don’t kill people, the republican party’s refusal to pass meaningful gun control legislation does. . 

[Becker]

23 minutes ago, pegman said:

Sad, but likely true. Can anyone give us a single redeeming factor of good old Mitch?

Well, he's got excellent connections in Moscow. Who knows, maybe he likes a good sprinkle like a certain someone and as a consequence is Putin's bit** friend.

[Emdog]

Mitch has to be removed from his position. Either vote him out in home state or somehow Demos need to take control of the senate.

[legend49]

3 hours ago, pegman said:

Sad, but likely true. Can anyone give us a single redeeming factor of good old Mitch?

Its time he grew a pair of balls

[Jonnapat]

""MoscowMitch"" as he's known on Twitter, just a really awful human being. 

[riclag]

Well it should start with a bipartisan debate on the senate floor.Why should the house bill be the one to make sweeping changes to such a controversial subject .I would start with taking away the rights of due process while possessing a firearm license from people that have ext team political views, that are under suspicion of having issues ,such as domestic violence ,drug ,alcohol abuse.people who family members say have exhibited strange behavior and acted inappropriate .Especially people who display anger.People who posses violent video games.Start with those millions of people.Perhaps the civil liberty union will make a compromise with the house and senate dems

 

 

 

 

 

[Srikcir]

Trump recently stated that Americans have no "political appetite" for banning assault-style weapons.

A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found that

• nearly 70% of all voters would back such a ban. Support for an assault-weapons ban was higher, at 86 percent, among Democrats
• 55% of GOP voters were comfortable with banning assault weapons - 54% said they would support stricter gun laws more generally. 

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/07/poll-most-voters-support-assault-weapons-ban-1452586

[natway09]

I am afraid on this subject you are wasting your breath with American lawmakers because "you cannot help stupid"

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

#Massacre Mitch (aka #Moscow Mitch)

 

Maybe I'll be wrong.... But I'll bet, he and Trump will talk and talk and talk, and hope the political firestorm dies down as time passes.  And then do pretty much next to nothing, or just enough to gain some bare political cover come election time.

Edited August 9, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[billd766]

27 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

#Massacre Mitch (aka #Moscow Mitch)

 

Maybe I'll be wrong.... But I'll bet, he and Trump will talk and talk and talk, and hope the political firestorm dies down as time passes.  And then do pretty much next to nothing, or just enough to gain some bare political cover come election time.

Until next weeks or next months massacre, where many people will be killed and injured.

 

 

[IAMHERE]

The will of the people, a great thing to have.

 

[White Christmas13]

2 hours ago, riclag said:

Well it should start with a bipartisan debate on the senate floor.Why should the house bill be the one to make sweeping changes to such a controversial subject .I would start with taking away the rights of due process while possessing a firearm license from people that have ext team political views, that are under suspicion of having issues ,such as domestic violence ,drug ,alcohol abuse.people who family members say have exhibited strange behavior and acted inappropriate .Especially people who display anger.People who posses violent video games.Start with those millions of people.Perhaps the civil liberty union will make a compromise with the house and senate dems

 

 

 

 

 

Yes Donald

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, riclag said:

Well it should start with a bipartisan debate on the senate floor.Why should the house bill be the one to make sweeping changes to such a controversial subject .I would start with taking away the rights of due process while possessing a firearm license from people that have ext team political views, that are under suspicion of having issues ,such as domestic violence ,drug ,alcohol abuse.people who family members say have exhibited strange behavior and acted inappropriate .Especially people who display anger.People who posses violent video games.Start with those millions of people.Perhaps the civil liberty union will make a compromise with the house and senate dems

 

When any of the issues you raise have the direct consequence and direct ability to result in the mass murder of a dozen or dozens of Americans at a time, then I'll think about considering those issues in the same context as weapons of mass murder.  In the meantime, weapons of mass murder are in a different context. And, BTW, there's no constitutional right in the U.S. to possess weapons of mass murder.

 

[Gracas]

Maybe after the last incident in California a few days ago they might want to add Knife Control to this as well.

[Sir Swagman]

Moscow Mitch the Massacre Man - out for all he can get.

With what I believe was close to $1.5m in ‘donations’ from the NRA, he won’t allow anything ‘they’ say no to.

 

[jerojero]

He's such a pathetic excuse for a man who "represents" the people. Obviously the NRA owns him. Pathetic.

[Toosetinmyways]

This is my take on the gun control issue.

The original plan was for  Mitch to sit on the House background gun check until just before the election, both his and Trump's. Then they pass the bill in the Senate and declare that they really want to make Americans safe. Unfortunately El Paso has scuppered plan A.

 

Plan B. Trump calls the NRA. Look he says, at present there is no way I will get re-elected with only a 38% approval rating. So your 30 million dollars will be wasted and you will have to deal with a democratic president who will really screw you. Why don't we have a pretend fight about gun control. I will play the aggressor to your strongman. We will keep the pretense up until just before the election then with great fanfare we jointly announce that anyone who has spent time in a mental institution we not be permitted to own a handgun. We pretend this is the first of many gun control changes. I get re-elected and it's back to the status quo.

[newnative]

   It's a sad state of affairs when these very, very, very weak and likely of not much use gun control proposals can't even be passed.   What is needed is an outright ban on all assault weapons and the requirement that assault weapons currently owned for private use must be turned in.

[Sujo]

8 hours ago, Gracas said:

Maybe after the last incident in California a few days ago they might want to add Knife Control to this as well.

How many mass murders by knife this year?