President Joe Biden berated Republicans over the weekend for supporting the National Rifle Association following two shootings in Alabama and Kentucky.
“This morning, our nation is once again grieving for at least four Americans tragically killed at a teen’s birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama as well as two others killed last night in a crowded public park in Louisville,” Biden said. “Jill and I are praying for their families, and for the many others injured and fighting for their lives in the wake of this weekend’s gun violence.”
The shooting Biden referred to occurred at a sixteen-year-olds birthday party in Alabama, where four people were killed and over one dozen more injured. Another shooting, at Chickasaw Park in Louisville, Kentucky, left two dead and four injured. The Chickasaw Park shooting was just one of the deadly shootings which occurred in Louisville last week; another shooting, at a bank in Louisville, resulted in five deaths.
Joe Biden criticizes GOP and NRA
Biden, in response to the outbreak of shootings, railed against GOP members for doing nothing about gun violence, for depriving Americans from what they want: “commonsense gun laws.” Joe Biden blamed Congress for failing to pass gun safety reforms including a national ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, to the movie theater, or to the park?” Biden asked. “This is outrageous and unacceptable. Americans agree and want lawmakers to act on commonsense gun safety reforms. Instead, this past week Americans saw national Republican elected leaders stand alongside the NRA in a race to the bottom on dangerous laws that further erode gun safety. Our communities need and deserve better.”
Biden did praise one Republican, however – Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, who signed an executive order to expand background checks on gun purchases and pressured the Tennessee state legislature to pass red flag laws. Lee said he hopes “more Republican officials will follow suit and take action.” Lee was moved to action after a shooting last month at the Covenant School in Tennessee, where six people (including three nine-year-old school children) were killed.
“I stand ready, as I always have been, to work across the aisle in good faith on federal legislation that will save lives,” Biden said. “It is within Congress’s power to require safe storage of firearms, require background checks for all gun sales, eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines – and this should happen without delay.”
Biden is right, too
Clearly, America has a problem with gun violence. I’d think even the most enthusiastic second amendment supporters could agree that gun violence is ravaging American cities, suburbs, and towns.
And when there’s a problem, sticking with the status quo is unlikely to solve the problem. Something needs to give. And while second amendment enthusiasts will argue that the solution to gun violence is more guns, I don’t find that argument compelling. And while liberals believe the solution to gun violence would be to get rid of all guns, that’s just simply never going to happen.
Banning assault rifles and high-capacity magazines seems like a reasonable accommodation to make. Sure, it would impede people’s recreation. And no, it wouldn’t do anything for the assault weapons and high-capacity magazines already in circulation.
But a ban would reduce the number of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in circulation increasingly over time (the longer the ban is in effect), and resultantly, over time, that would continue to reduce the likelihood of assault weapon/high-capacity mags use in a deadly shooting.
It’s a limited benefit but it’s a benefit.
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
