America has always had guns, but the mass shootings that have occurred over the past decade or so, have put an immense emphasis on the results of illicit gun use, creating a deep divide among the gun rights and gun violence lobbies.
The recent shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio were committed by two deranged, mentally unstable young adults, who passed a background check, and used legally obtained firearms to commit the crime.
This was also the case with the Parkland and Pulse Nightclub shootings in Florida. Both shooters had legally obtained their firearms.
Republican and gun rights proponents are quick to blame the shooter, and rightly so, but Democrats and gun control activists are blaming the actual weapons used in the horrific shootings.
While Congressman Ted Deutch (D) has become the face of the anti-gun lobby after the Parkland High School shooting that left 17 dead, his colleague in the House of Representatives, Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D), has quickly joined the ranks of the anti-gun lobby.
While Deutch and Murphy have said that hey support and defend the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, both have also stated that they support a ban on “assault weapons” or “weapons of war.”
“Yes. "Yes, I stand with the Pulse families. For too long Congress has listened to the gun lobby instead of using common sense. We should protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners, but we should also protect our communities by banning military-style assault weapons, preventing suspected terrorists from buying guns, and passing comprehensive background checks on all gun sales."-Rep. Stephanie Murphy (Orlando Sentinel)
With Democrats having won control of the House, Murphy and Deutch have seen their gun bills pass, including Murphy’s gun violence research bill, and the controversial H.R.8 background check bill.
Now after the El Paso and Dayton shootings, Murphy took to social media to express more of her thoughts regarding gun violence in America.
“No single measure will definitively end gun violence, but we must be clear-eyed about the most effective ways to stop its devastating impacts on families all across the country.
Not to mention that there are communities in this country that suffer through the consequences of gun violence on an everyday basis, and without the media coverage received by high-profile mass shootings.
Like many others, I am tired of living in a country in which legislative responses to mass shootings are based on the latest headlines. After Pulse, we saw a renewed effort to pursue a “no-fly, no buy” policy. And after Parkland, banning bump stocks became the focus.”
We must look at gun violence through a fact-based approach, which is why I led the effort that ended the ban on gun violence research & recently helped secure $50 million in the House to begin studying the best way to end this growing epidemic.”
Murphy’s “communities in this country that suffer through the consequences of gun violence on an everyday basis” remark all-but directly points the finger at the mass killing epidemic happening in the Democratic-controlled city of Chicago, where shooting is an hourly occurrence.
It was reported that over the weekend when the two latest mass shootings occurred, 7 people were killed and many more were injured because of gun violence in Chicago. The shootings in Chicago are occurring in impoverished neighborhoods and among young black males.
Many Democrats say that “so many mass shootings” occurred on Trump’s watch, but in looking back at the history of “mass shootings,” more of these past shootings occurred under the Obama administration, including the Las Vegas Strip massacre, the worst massacre in U.S. History.
Some other “mass shootings” that occurred under Obama’s watch where the Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 49, the San Bernardino shooting that killed 14, the Washington Navy Shipyard shooting the claimed 12 lives, and the Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre that resulted in the deaths of 27. (Source: Mother Jones)"
President Donald Trump, who many Democrats blame for causing the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, supports “Red Flag” gun laws and is in favor of more in-depth background checks that will root out those unstable individuals that shouldn’t have a firearm.
Democrats will get the “sensible” gun legislation they want to be signed into law, but when will their general play against guns end?
That is what the gun lobby is concerned with.
