On Monday, the United States suffered yet another mass shooting. The gunman in the Boulder, Colorado incident was armed with a Ruger AR-556.
As is the norm when a mass shooting occurs, Democrats called for common sense gun reform. Like the stimulus bill, gun control is not only popular with Democratic voters. Polls regularly show support for expanded gun control in the 80’s or 90’s.
Still, Republican Senators were prepared to fight against any legislation that would prevent people from buying weapons of war. Leading this charge is Lindsey Graham. The South Carolina lawmaker is daring Joe Biden to bring a assault weapon bill to the senate floor.
Graham told the Washington Examiner, “If there were a vote tomorrow to ban ‘assault weapons’ — I’ll make a prediction — a majority of the Senate would reject that vote. There are Democrats living in red states that cannot vote for an ‘assault weapons’ ban, but every time there’s a tragic shooting in this country, the Left uses it as a reason to grab a gun [from a] lawful gun owner.”
The South Carolina lawmaker continued with a common Republican talking point, “Republicans are not going to give ground on the idea of banning the assault weapon. The weapon is not the problem, it’s the mental health issues around people who use the weapon.”
Graham even bragged about owning an assault weapon himself. “I want to vote on an ‘assault weapons’ ban. I own an AR-15 — now, why do I own it? Because I have the right to own it, and I chose to own it. The AR-15 I own has a medallion on it with my reserve unit, so it means a lot to me, but if there’s a breakdown of law and order [or] a natural disaster and the gangs are roaming through a neighborhood, what house do they go to the last?”
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.
