Former Republican Congressman Whines For More Gun Control
By Jose Nino
BigLeaguePolitics.com
Aug 7, 2019
Former Republican Congressman Scott Rigell claims that Republicans have zero appetite to pass gun control.
A Buzzfeed story covers Rigell’s frustration with GOP leadership on the issue.
Rigell was in Congress from 2011 to 2017 representing an Eastern Virginia district.
He claims that Republicans “won’t move on gun control because they’re told not to politicize gun tragedy.”
Rigell told BuzzFeed News on Monday, August 5, 2019, “There was no appetite — zero — for advancing any substantive legislation like the legislation that I proposed with [Democratic Rep.] Elijah Cummings, even though it was very, in my view, benign.”
In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, Rigel teamed up with Elijah Cummings to introduce the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act of 2013, which “would have made gun trafficking and straw purchases — buying a firearm with the intention of giving it to someone else — a federal crime.” However, the bill was not able to gain any traction as it died in the Republican-led House Judiciary subcommittee
The former congressman was attacked by the National Association for Gun Rights for his desire to push gun control.
Rigell commented on NAGR’s actions, saying that “You know they wanted to make a point out of me that anybody that works outside of their agenda, they’re going to stop supporting if not outright oppose them.”
He added, “There is an intense polarization, you’re either with us or against us. That’s the mindset.”
Despite Rigell’s complaints, Republicans have incrementally passed gun control at the federal level. For example, in 2018 the government passed Fix NICS, a bill which incentivizes local and state governments in addition to federal agencies to share records with the FBI in order to allegedly smooth out the background check process.
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