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Massacres Test Whether Washington Can Move Beyond Paralysis on Gun Laws


WASHINGTON – Days after 19 children and two teachers were shot dead in Texas, politicians in Washington are learning about the edges of US gun laws.

A bipartisan group of senators plans to hold virtual meetings early next week and has several proposals on the table: expanding background checks, changing laws to prevent mentally ill people and teenagers from receiving guns, and New regulations on gun trade.

Senator Christopher S. Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat and a leader of the effort, said he hasn’t seen much goodwill to talk about since 20 children were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School. in Newtown, Conn, in 2012.

But emerging details about the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday suggest that some of the proposals being discussed could make a lot of difference. The gunman with no criminal record may have been caught during an extensive background investigation. There is no evidence that the gun was part of a human trafficking ring. And so far, there have been no reports of mental illness that can cause the so-called red flag laws.

More far-reaching efforts – such as banning military-style weapons, raising the age to buy firearms and requiring licensing and registration of firearms – were excluded, a result of opposition from the Communist Party. peace, Democratic resignations and court rulings.

This month, ahead of the Texas shooting and another massacre at a grocery story in Buffalo, NY, a federal appeals court repeal a California law bans the sale of certain semi-automatic weapons to persons under the age of 21. Both shootings were carried out by an 18-year-old.

The reaction in Washington to the gruesome scenes was a familiar mix of pain and paralysis. There’s a feeling in Congress, in the White House, and across the country that, somehow, this time will be different.

In Uvalde, grieving parents grew angrier on Friday when a top state law enforcement official admitted that the police were wrong to waited over an hour to confront the gunman as he lurks inside a classroom, firing repeatedly while the still-living students lie dormant among the corpses of their classmates. Hundreds of protesters raged outside the National Rifle Association conference in Houston – less than 300 miles from the massacre – where the group is celebrating its long partnership with Republicans to stop gun control measures.

“How many more children are there?” read a sign. “You are responsible,” read another, painted to look as if it were spattered with blood.

And yet, even after so many children have been massacred, Washington’s top political figures are returning to their usual roles.

“There is more Republican interest and engagement today than at any time since Sandy Hook,” Mr. Murphy said. “So by definition, that’s different, right? But I have also failed. Almost without exception, these conversations don’t go anywhere from the get-go, right? And so I’m nervous about claiming optimism, given that history. ”

As the United States enters the holiday weekend after two mass shootings, senators go home for a break. President Biden will travel to Uvalde on Sunday to once again comfort the community in the face of unimaginable losses.

What remains is a huge gap between the scale of the problem – more than 1,500 people have been killed more than 270 mass shootings since 2009, according to Everytown for Gun Safety – and what America’s political leaders can agree on are the right responses to the carnage.

“None of this is appropriate for the moment,” said Igor Volsky, executive director of Guns Down America, a gun control advocacy group. “None of this responds to the enormity of the crisis we are facing, both in terms of mass shootings and the increasing daily gun violence. Not available. None of that is resetting the conversation.”

Polls show that many Americans are eager for a more widespread reset.

Nearly 90 percent of adults in the United States support the idea of ​​doing more to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental illness, according to one Pew . Research Center Survey last year. And about 80 percent of people say gun buyers are subject to a background check, even if they buy their firearm during a private sale or at a gun show.

But the surveys also reflect deepening polarization in the country, where about 30% of adults say they own a gun.

At the federal level, 51 percent of Americans support a nationwide ban about the sale of AR-15 rifles and similar semi-automatic weapons, while 32 percent oppose, according to a poll this month by the Associated Press and NORC. Three-quarters of Democrats support it, compared with just one-quarter of Republicans.

And the divide is also wide between those who own guns and those who do not. (Republicans are twice as likely to say they own a gun as Democrats.)

According to Pew, the majority of non-gun owners support banning large-volume ammunition magazines and creating a federal database to track all gun sales. Less than half of gun owners support similar restrictions. By contrast, the majority of gun owners support teachers to arm weapons in schools and allow people to carry weapons in more places – changes widely opposed by those who don’t. gun.

The response to mass shootings in the United States is radically different from the decisive action taken in other developed countries around the world. Britain banned semi-automatic weapons and handguns after mass shootings in 1987 and 1996. Australia made gun buybacks mandatory after a 1996 massacre and the rate of mass shootings plummeted. Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Norway have all tightened gun laws after horrific crimes.

For Republican lawmakers in the United States, even a national tragedy like the two recent mass shootings may not be enough to break the fear of angering their supporters. who have been fired by former President Donald J. Trump over the past few years, Fox News and social media.

Since 2017, when Trump became president, support for an assault weapon ban for gun owners has dropped to 37 percent from 48 percent, according to Pew.

The pressure that Republican elected officials felt to jostle the line between their gun voters was evident within hours of the macabre news in Texas. A steady stream of Republican lawmakers has once again taken the two steps that have worked for them for years: declaring that no measure the Democrats support will stop the gunman – even when they staunchly oppose possible broader efforts.

Republicans have used the delayed police response to the Texas shootings as a way of shifting the debate to school security rather than guns, having overtaken motor vehicle crashes like leading cause of death for U.S. children ages 1 to 19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a video that quickly goes viralSenator Ted Cruz, a Republican of Texas, focused the blame on “some violent psychopath” when he was questioned by a British reporter in Uvalde.

“If you want to stop violent crime, the Democratic proposals, none of them can stop this,” Cruz said. And in Washington, he blamed Democrats and the media for hastily “trying to limit the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.”

That rigidity of most Republicans over the past decade has contributed to an inevitable sense of gloom among Democrats in Congress and in the White House. In remarks a day after the Texas shootings, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said he accepts “the reality” that Republicans don’t want to prevent more killings.

Describing his hopes of finding a compromise, he said: “Maybe, maybe, maybe. No possibility. Burning in the past. ”

Mr. Murphy said he spoke to Mr. Biden’s White House staff on Friday, who told him the president was eager to do whatever he could to support new negotiations on measures. New gun safety.

“He can’t let go and he won’t,” predicted Mr. Murphy, adding, “I think you’ll see him actively involved over the weekend and into next week.”

But the president and his aides remain vigilant. Mr. Biden was less willing to commit to action he knew would fail, portraying himself as politically powerless. Aides also warned that too much involvement by the president could further politicize the debate, making it difficult for Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to reach a consensus. And forcing moderate Democrats to take a hardline, symbolic stance could cost the party even more seats in the midterm elections this fall.

White House officials have made it clear to voters and lawmakers that Biden supports aggressive action on gun safety measures and Republicans do not. “This is not a case of Republicans hiding their position,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Now, White House aides say, the other side has long been behind those proposals.

But some activists have run out of patience with that explanation. They say Mr. Biden can – and must – do more.

“In your recent address to the nation about the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, you asked the question, ‘Where is our backbone in the name of God?'” Keri Rodrigues, president of National Fathers Mother Union, an advocacy group on behalf of children and families, wrote in a letter to Mr. Biden on Friday. “We now put this question back to you as the leader of this country.”

Ms. Rodrigues called on Mr. Biden to take enforcement actions to make guns less accessible, such as changing the way gun sellers are identified so that more of them are required to conduct background checks. . And she urges him to convince Senate Democrats to step aside to ban assault weapons, raise the age limit for gun purchases and dramatically expand the federal background check system.

Mr. Volsky said he was deeply disappointed by what he called Mr Biden’s lack of urgency following the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings.

“They have learned manners that after tragedies like this, you say all the right things,” he said of the Democrat. “And when all of that fails, you throw your hands up and blame the Republicans. It’s completely pathetic. ”

Mr. Murphy is not entirely optimistic, but he is more hopeful.

He said taking some small steps with Republicans could accelerate a decades-long effort to pass new gun safety measures by showing slow but important progress, in the same way that the Civil rights and gay rights activists win small victories before they win big.

Mr. Murphy said that Republicans need to see evidence that they can vote for new gun restrictions and not be punished by voters. Outrage over the deaths in Buffalo and Uvalde could provide an opportunity for Republicans to test that theory, he said.

“The story here could be that Congress is discussing a range of measures that are far less than what is needed to save the maximum number of lives,” Mr. Murphy conceded. “But I also have another story, which is, we haven’t done anything for 30 years, and if we do something that makes sense and that could lead to a turning point in our gun laws. , that would be history.”

“It will,” he said, “break this logjam.”





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