Joe Biden’s impassioned plea for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in America has met with mixed reactions from US lawmakers, whose views on his primetime call for action appeared to break down along familiar party lines.
Some Democratic lawmakers responded to the US president’s address to the nation by praising his leadership on a crisis that has horrified many Americans in recent weeks, while some Republicans framed the president’s speech as liberal misdirection as they continue to support gun rights.
Biden’s emotional and fiery speech came in the wake of mass shootings at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket; an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, and a Tulsa, Oklahoma, medical center. The Buffalo, Uvalde and Tulsa massacres killed 10, 21, and four people, respectively.
The Maryland senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat, praised Biden’s entreaty for gun legislation. “Thank you @POTUS for having the courage to speak from your heart,” Cardin said on Twitter. “You outlined commonsense measures every Member of Congress should support if they truly care about protecting American lives. I hope all my colleagues were listening – and show similar courage in the days ahead.”
The Democratic Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey Jr voiced similar sentiments, saying “President Biden is right about this: It is unconscionable for anyone, Republican or Democrat, to not want to even debate commonsense gun safety proposals.”
“We were still burying the victims of Buffalo when all eyes turned to Uvalde, Pittsburgh, and Tulsa,” Casey also said on Thursday night.
“Glad to have a compassionate leader in @POTUS who is willing to listen and act,” Tim Kaine, Democratic Virginia senator, said. “The majority of Americans support commonsense steps to reduce gun violence – like universal background checks. I’m urging my Senate colleagues to heed the calls for action NOW.”
Amy Klobuchar, Democratic senator from Minnesota, employed similar language in a tweet about firearm reform after Biden’s speech. “There are a lot of things the majority of Americans support: protecting choice, commonsense gun legislation, and lowering drug costs. It’s time to listen to what the people want and act,” she said.
The New Hampshire Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen called for gun legislation, and said it could be enacted without infringing on the constitutional right to bear arms. “Commonsense gun reform and upholding the second amendment are not mutually exclusive. Our people – our children – deserve better. They deserve action from Congress now,” Shaheen said on Twitter.
But the reaction among some conservatives conflicted greatly with their Democrat counterparts. They followed a familiar rightwing playbook of accusing those who advocate for gun reforms of “politicizing” the shootings and ignoring the broad popularity of gun ownership in the US – though few Democrats ever suggest any sort of attack on the right to own guns.
Darrell Issa, a Republican California congressman, called Biden’s address divisive.
“President Biden had the opportunity tonight to help unite the country. He didn’t. He lashed out at everyone who doesn’t share his gun control agenda,” Issa said in a tweet. “Then he demanded voters elect more Democrats. His worst speech yet.”
The Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz, who has argued schools would be safer with one entrance that’s guarded by armed police officers, echoed this opinion. “Tonight Biden chose to double down on hard-left divisive politics,” Cruz said on Twitter.
The far-right Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene cast Biden’s call for gun legislation as contradictory and hypocritical.
“Joe Biden wants to ban ‘assault weapons’ and ‘high capacity magazines’ yet Democrats refuse to prosecute violent crimes in Democrat cities all over the country, and refuse to protect your children at school with armed security,” she said on Twitter. “Same Democrats are protected by armed guards daily.”
Biden’s speech, and the reactions that have ensued, unfolded as a bipartisan group of senators are negotiating reform to gun law. The Maine Republican senator Susan Collins has said that this group is “making rapid progress”. The Democratic Connecticut senator Chris Murphy has voiced optimism about these discussions though many observers are skeptical that any meaningful changes can be passed at the federal level due to the difficulties of overcoming Republican opposition in the Senate.
On the state level, calls for reform will probably have mixed results. The New York state legislature on Thursday passed a robust package of firearms bills that prohibit most civilians from buying body armor; the bills also raise the age requirement for buying a semi-automatic rifle to 21, according to the New York Times.
After the Uvalde shooting put pressure on Texas politicians to act, the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, asked his lieutenant and a top state lawmaker “to each convene a special legislative committee”. While Abbott said “we must reassess the twin issues of school safety & mass violence,” Texas has historically loosened gun restrictions in the wake of mass shootings while Abbott has led the state.
