A few weeks ago, one of the co-owners of The Community Word received a campaign mailer from a Republican state senator that asked, “Are you tired of politicians threatening your right to own guns?”
It claimed, “The rights of Illinois’ law-abiding gun owners have been under assault by entrenched politicians and special interests determined to make it harder to take part in their Second Amendment Right.”
Gun owners under assault?
Then, on May 14, 10 Black people were shot by a White gunman at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y. A day later, a gunman killed one and four others were critically wounded at a church in California.
Gun safety advocates made their calls for “common sense gun regulations” with the predictable “thoughts and prayers” from firearms fanatics followed by their foments of “politicizing” the issue on the backs of the victims.
Just nine days later, 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Exactly who is under assault, now?
Still, gun groups claimed “Second Amendment rights” were more important than making sure firearms were well-regulated, which ironically are two words in the first sentence of that seemingly untouchable amendment to the Constitution.
An NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist Poll revealed that 56% of gun owners prioritize protecting gun rights over curbing gun violence. A CBS News Poll found that 44 percent of Republicans surveyed said that mass shootings were “Unfortunately something we have to accept as part of a free society.”
That GOP mailer said, “Gun owners are increasingly punished for the actions of criminals. We can effectively fight violent gun crimes without infringing on the rights of the people.”
How?
“Learn more at ILSenateGOP.org” about removing bureaucratic red tape for easier access to firearms, allowing firearms to be carried on public transportation and at public parks, and cracking down on criminals. Huh? What?
Pressure mounted to do something, though, despite the tired trope that the proposed “common sense” changes to gun regulations would not have prevented Uvalde. Video games and rap lyrics were blamed by the very same people who shoot off their guns during campaigns.
What is becoming increasingly evident is that at Uvalde, and the 2018 massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and by the American Sniper is that the National Rifle Association’s answer to “a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” doesn’t work either.
There have been almost 250 mass shootings (four or more killed or injured) according to the Gun Violence Archive as we hit the middle of 2022. On the first day of June, a news segment dealing with gun violence had to be interrupted to report more gun violence when someone bought a gun and immediately killed five at a hospital in Tulsa, Okla.
Schools, churches, and hospitals have not been safe in this nation.
President Joe Biden said on June 2, “Over the last two decades, more … children have died from guns than on-duty police officers and active-duty military combined. Think about that: more kids than on-duty cops killed by guns, more kids than soldiers killed by guns.”
The 692 mass shootings last year were not enough to inspire legislation.
Enough, apparently, is enough. Lo and behold, the United States government got something done.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) convinced 15 Republicans senators to defy the gun lobby and vote for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which easily passed the House and was signed into law by the president on June 25.
How did it happen?
“The public just is at a different level of anxiety and fear right now,” said Murphy, who’s made gun safety a top priority since Sandy Hook (2012). “When members went home over the course of the Memorial Day recess, they actually came to the conclusion that they really couldn’t do nothing. They were going to pay a pretty big price
if they did not.”
Murphy emphasized that legislators dropped the finger pointing and tried to find common ground. While this bill will not solve all gun safety issues, it is surely a start in the right direction.
So they settled on stronger background checks for 18-20-year-olds. Juvenile records — as well as any mental health issues — will be checked by federal authorities, who will have 10 days to check, up from three.
The bill includes $750 million to help states implement “red flag laws,” which will temporarily confiscate guns from those deemed dangerous by a judge.
It closes the “boyfriend loophole.” Domestic abusers are not allowed to buy a gun, but they had to be a spouse, living with, or have a child with the victim. Intimate partners are now included to close the loophole.
The bill offers billions of dollars to go to the states for mental health support and millions more for school safety programs.
A huge part of the bill is tough federal penalties for “straw purchashers.” Those legal gun buyers face up to 15 years in prison for purchasing a gun for those who do not qualify, and 25 years if the gun is used in a crime.
Ever hear the “Cities with the toughest gun laws still have gun crimes” argument? Chicago, for example has tough laws on purchasing guns, but they could be purchased in Indiana and Wisconsin, which have far more lenient policies, and brought into the Windy City. Hopefully this part of the Act will stem that tide, which paradoxically happens to be a legitimate reason to have federal gun laws as opposed to leaving it up to individual states.
Overall, compromise was key. The BSCA does not go as far as Democrats want it to go, and it crosses a lot of lines for many Republicans. “Our approach was different this time,” Murphy said. “We very quickly said we are not going to argue about things that cannot get 60 votes. We will get right down to the business of finding what can pass.”