Democrats Take Aim At Gun Rights; Will Push Most Aggressive Legislation In Decades
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Fri, 11/09/2018
Democrats say they will pass the most aggressive gun-control legislation in decades after they take back control of the House in January, in the aftermath of two mass in less than two weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The new measures will be supported by an influx of pro-gun-control lawmakers on their way to Capitol Hill after Tuesday’s midterm elections, however any new measure would face an uphill battle in the GOP-controlled Senate.
Democrats ousted at least 15 House Republicans with “A” National Rifle Association ratings, while the candidates elected to replace them all scored an “F” NRA rating. -WSJ
“This new majority is not going to be afraid of our shadow,” said California Democrat Mike Thompson, a Napa Valley, California legislator and chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. “We know that we’ve been elected to do a job, and we’re going to do it.”
Gun control advocates came out in force this week following the murder of more than a dozen people on Thursday at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, California.
While in the past there were calls for time to mourn victims following mass shootings, this week advocates reacted instead with a call for new legislation.
Susan Orfanos, whose son was killed Thursday after surviving the Las Vegas massacre last year, said in a television interview that she doesn’t “want prayers. I don’t want thoughts. I want gun control, and I hope to God nobody sends me anymore prayers.” -WSJ
Less than two weeks prior, a gunman entered a Pittsburgh synagogue and murdered 11 people while wounding seven in an anti-Semitic attack.
Supporters of the Second Amendment say the additional restrictions will go too far.
“What we do is say, how do we make certain that we protect the Second Amendment and protect our citizens?” said Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Fox News. Blackburn’s victorious Senate campaign Tuesday had the backing of $2.5 million in spending by the NRA.
Approximately 61% of voters last week say that America’s gun laws should be stricter – according to an Associated Press poll which surveyed around 90,000 people who voted or stated their intention to vote. Around 13% of Democrats and 8% of all voters said the most important issue affecting their vote was gun control.
This year’s midterms was the first year in which gun-control advocates outspent the NRA.
The gun-rights advocacy group spent about $20 million in the 2018 election cycle—much of it on advertising backing the confirmation of Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said.
Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun-control organization backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and a group founded by former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically wounded in a 2011 shooting, spent a combined $37 million in 2018. -WSJ
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