Different reactions to the gun violence in Boulder, CO

guns gun violence die-in — Die-in against gun violence, Tampa. By Seán Kinane / WMNF News (12 June 2018).

The suspect in Monday’s Boulder supermarket shootings bought the assault rifle six days before he allegedly shot and killed ten people. Investigators have not established a motive.

On Tuesday President Biden reiterated his priorities for gun safety: banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and closing gun background check loopholes.

“It received votes from both Republicans and Democrats in the House. This is not, it should not be, a partisan issue. This is an American issue. It will save lives, American lives. We have to act. We should also ban assault weapons in the process.”

Senate Democrats say they are pushing toward a vote on expanded gun safety measures as the nation reels from the second mass shooting in a week.

But prospects for any major reform are slim for now. On Tuesday morning Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to bring House-passed legislation that would require background checks for most gun sales and transfers to the Senate floor, whether it will pass or not. The Senate Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing on proposals for gun safety Tuesday.

Here’s part of what Republican Senator John Kennedy said.

“I have listened to my colleagues’ comments with interest. And I join with Senator Feinstein in hoping that we can do something about this. But I do think we ought to keep this in perspective. What has happened in the last few days, what’s happened in the last year’s, is of course tragic. And I’m not, I’m not trying to perfectly equate these two, but we have a lot of drunk drivers in America that kill a lot of people.”

Here’s fellow Republican, Ted Cruz.

“And every time there’s a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders.

“The senator from Connecticut just said the folks on the other side of the aisle have no solutions. Well, the senator from Connecticut knows that is false. And he knows that’s false, ’cause Senator Grassley and I together introduced legislation. Grassley-Cruz targeted at violent criminals, targeted at felons, targeted at fugitives, targeted at those with serious mental disease, to stop them from getting firearms, to put them in prison when they try to illegally buy guns.

“What happens in this committee after every mass shooting is Democrats proposed taking away guns from law-abiding citizens because that’s their political objective. But what they propose, not only does it not reduce crime, it makes it worse.”

Hours after America's second mass shooting in a week, Sen. John Kennedy downplays the gun problem by noting that "we have a lot of drunk drivers in America that kill a lot of people. We ought to try to combat that too … the answer is not to get rid of all sober drivers." pic.twitter.com/BvqhNvuWRJ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 23, 2021

Journalist Ari Berman tweeted: “2 cases of voter fraud in 2020: let’s make it harder to vote … 38,000 gun deaths a year in US: let’s make it easier to buy guns”

2 cases of voter fraud in 2020: let’s make it harder to vote

38,000 gun deaths a year in US: let’s make it easier to buy guns

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 23, 2021

Marjorie Stoneman Douglas H.S. survivor David Hogg said:

“If we are going to solve gun violence, it is on us, as a people, to become the United States of America. Not only united against gun violence but united against the injustice and violence that drives it. United against the poverty and systemic racism that was purpose-built into this Country. Let us united for our children and for our future.

“For when we’re signing laws, we’re not thinking about whether or not we’re going to lose an election. We’re thinking about whether or not this is actually going to help protect the future of our children and the future of our country. Because, in reality, that is what really matters. That, that focus on the future of our country and the protection of our children should be at the core of all of our political decisions.”