We are wrapping up tonight’s coverage of President Biden’s primetime address but here’s a rundown of some of what he called for in his speech:
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Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. If this can’t be achieved, he called for age restrictions to purchase them to be raised from 18 to 21.
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Red flag laws, safe storage laws, and better background checks. Biden said key measures would ensure guns don’t fall into the hands of felons, and highlighted that most Americans — including gun owners — support stronger background checks. He said those who don’t lock up their guns effectively should be held accountable. Biden also pushed for limits on how many rounds weapons can hold. “Why in God’s name should an ordinary citizen be able to purchase an assault weapon that holds 30 round magazines that lets mass shooters fire hundreds of bullets in matter of minutes?,” he asked, describing the horrors that parents had to endure after Uvalde, relying on “DNA swabs to identify the remains of their children, nine- and 10-year-olds”.
- Mental healthcare. Noting that there’s a “serious mental health crisis in this country,” he said that mental health was a big part of his agenda this year. Biden called for more school counselors, more mentorship, and both privacy protection and resources to protect young people “from the harms of social media”. “This unity agenda won’t fully heal the wounded souls, but it will help, it matters,” he said.
- End immunity for manufacturers. Gun manufacturers are shielded from liability for the death and devastation their products cause. “The only industry in this country that has that kind of immunity,” he said. “The gun industry’s special protections are outrageous. It must end.”
Other news this evening:
- The House judiciary committee passed the “Protect Our Kids Act,” a package that includes many of the proposals outlined in the president’s speech. It’s unlikely to clear the divided Senate though.
- The House select committee will hold its first hearing on the 6 January attack next week, sharing findings in primetime.
- Children under 5 may be able to get Covid-19 vaccinations in the coming weeks.
Updated
In a tweet following the president’s speech, Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, said he was ready to vote on all the proposals outlined.
“I stand ready to vote on ALL the proposals mentioned by President Biden tonight and encourage the Democratic leader to bring them forward for votes,” he said.
But he followed that with a criticism of Biden’s speech, saying, “I also stand ready to work across the aisle to find common ground – something that was absent from President Biden’s address to the nation.”
Graham ready to vote *on* (not *for*) the Biden gun proposals: https://t.co/v5aCs0TFh5
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) June 3, 2022
Biden was clear in blaming Republicans for inaction in Congress.
Senate Democrats are bracing for a battle over gun control and expecting another disappointing outcome. “I’m certainly prepared for failure,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN earlier today. “I’ve been here enough times to know that this is probably the most politically complicated and emotionally fraught piece that Congress deals with.”
Murphy had been in talks with Graham about reviving last year’s Manchin-Toomey bill that would close loopholes that enable gun sales without background checks but that effort already seems doomed to fail. “It’s too broad,” Graham said of that specific bill.
From CNN:
The talks are centering on a narrower version of the Manchin-Toomey proposal – along with several other ideas. Blumenthal and Graham are engaged in renewed talks over incentives to bolster state laws empowering authorities to restrict gun access to individuals deemed a threat – referred to as red flag laws. There are ongoing talks, including between Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, to impose new rules on trafficking of guns between states.
Republicans, including Cornyn and Tillis, are in talks over school safety provisions as well as ways to bolster the US mental health system. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, is involved in those talks as well.”
Updated
There were 56 candles burning behind Biden as he gave his speech, there to represent and honor the victims of gun violence in 50 states and six US territories.
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The National Rifle Association issued a statement about Biden’s proposals, saying they “will only infringe on the rights”, Bloomberg reports.
“This isn’t a real solution, it isn’t true leadership, and it isn’t what America needs,” they added.
During his remarks, Biden emphasized that his aim was not to crack down on gun owners or to challenge the second amendment, and he championed those who have purchased and kept guns legally and safely. “We believe we should be treating responsible gun owners as an example of how every gun owner should behave,” he said. “I respect the culture and the tradition and the concerns of lawful gun owners.”
“At the same time” he added, “the second amendment is not absolute.”
Pres. Biden: "I want to be very clear: this is not about taking away anyone's guns. It's not about vilifying gun owners. In fact, we believe we should be treating responsible gun owners as an example of how every gun owner should behave."
— ABC News (@ABC) June 2, 2022
Read more: https://t.co/YrBIAgbdFC pic.twitter.com/gVgSb0rL9U
But the NRA wasn’t alone in their rebuke of the president and his attempt to align Americans around reforms. One Fox News commentator said his speech reflects an “extreme agenda” and said it was an “impeachable offense,” framing the president’s proposals as an attack on the constitution. Tucker Carlson also reportedly blasted his audience with claims that they would be unarmed.
Initial reaction to Biden's guns speech from his opposition: "PREPARE TO BE UNARMED," Tucker Carlson says pic.twitter.com/PkIpT7l78E
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 3, 2022
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Biden outlined several proposals in his speech tonight, calling for a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and said if that can’t happen the age should be raised from 18 to 21 to purchase them, with strengthened background checks.
He also pushed for safe storage laws and red flag laws, and to “repeal the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from liability, address the mental health crisis”.
In his speech, President Biden was very specific about what he wants Congress to do about gun violence. pic.twitter.com/tuq5Xk4OnD
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) June 3, 2022
But the president also questioned whether the Senate would act. Calling resistance from Republicans “unconscionable” he said, “it’s time for the Senate to do something” and added that, at minimum, 10 Republican senators would need to join Democrats in support.
If they refuse, he said, lawmakers would likely pay the price at the ballot box.
“I know how hard it is, but I’ll never give up. And if Congress fails, I believe this time a majority of American people won’t give up either,” he said. “I believe the majority of you will act to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote,” adding, “enough, enough, enough.”
Updated
Two gun control advocacy organizations weighed in after the speech, supporting Biden’s message to the American people and calls for the Senate to come together on the issue:
“The President was speaking on behalf of the vast majority of Americans when he said it’s time for the Senate to show up and take action to keep our families safe, said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety in a statement. “The American people aren’t asking for much – they just want to go to the grocery store, send their kids to school, go to church, and walk the streets without getting shot down. If the Senate can’t meet that basic need, this country is in deep trouble.”
A grassroots army of Moms Demand Action volunteers that is getting bigger and stronger by the minute has turned out across the country to join President Biden’s message tonight: Senators, don’t look away from this gun violence epidemic,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action said. “We’re encouraged to see real bipartisan negotiations going on in the Senate right now – but it isn’t about our hope that something gets done, it’s our expectation that lawmakers do the right thing.”
Updated
House Judiciary Passes Protecting Our Kids Act
As Biden addressed the nation, the House Judiciary Committe passed HR 7910 – the so-called “Protecting Our Kids Act”– a package that includes many of the proposals the president laid out.
The bill includes provisions to increase the age limit for purchasing semi-automatic rifles to 21, and places restrictions on high-capacity magazine sales, among others.
Still, it is unlikely for the bill to get through the Senate.
🚨🚨🚨 BREAKING: @HouseJudiciary PASSES H.R. 7910, the Protecting Our Kids Act, a comprehensive package of gun violence prevention proposals. pic.twitter.com/NFJ7nDoE47
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) June 2, 2022
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“What will we be doing as a nation?” he asked, while families of victims mourn. He described meeting with the sister of a teacher murdered in Uvalde, whose husband died of a heart attack in the aftermath. Their four children are now left as orphans.
Biden said she asked him what she could say to her nieces and nephews. His response, was just to hold them tight.
After reflecting on that heartbreaking moment and the others he’s had meeting with families, he called on the American people to make a change.
“It is time for each of us to do our part” he said, “for the children we lost and the children we can save.”
“Let us finally do something” he repeated. “God bless the families that are hurting. God bless you all.”
Ending with a prayer, he closed his remarks.
Biden has called for the age requirements to be raised and to end immunity for gun manufacturers.
He also focused on mental health issues. “Even before the pandemic young people were hurting” he said, pushing for more counselors for students and teachers.
After outlining what he would do, he pushed on Congress, asking what legislators would do. Saying that refusing to pass new restrictions is “unconscionable” he said he would never give up.
“We can’t fail the American people again” he said.
Updated
Biden has called for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban passed 1994, repeating claims he has made in the past that it significantly reduced mass shootings, and that when it was allowed to expire, mass shootings tripled.
The law, passed under President Clinton, banned weapons that could hold more than 10 rounds. But, as the Washington Post reported last week, there were significant loopholes:
A 2004 study for the Justice Department found that the ban’s impact on gun violence was mixed, at best, because of exemptions written into the law; if the ban were renewed, the “effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.” The report said that assault weapons were “rarely used” in gun crimes but suggested that if the law remained in place, it might have a bigger impact.
James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University professor, collected data back to 1982 showing that assault weapons account for 24.6 percent of public mass shootings.”
Biden says this is not about taking away guns but adds that the 2nd amendment is not absolute.
The rights granted by the second amendment are not unlimited, he added, quoting the late Supreme Court justice, Antonin Scalia.
Guns are the number 1 killer of children, Biden said, citing CDC research. “For God sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?”
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Biden has begun his remarks, beginning with heartbreaking imagery of the crosses bearing the names of the children killed in the Texas shooting. He has wasted no time painting the picture of families “whose lives will never be the same.”
“Do something” he said they have pleaded, noting that nothing substantial has been done since Columbine.
Gabrielle Canon here, signing on to take you through Biden’s speech tonight and the news that breaks over the next few hours.
As we wait for Biden to address the nation on the devastating mass shootings and the urgent need for legislation to combat them, Ohio governor Mike DeWine has announced he will sign a state bill that would make it easier to arm teachers.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Republican-backed bill, passed this week, would diminish the amount of training required by teachers to carry guns into schools. Currently, roughly 700 hours of training is required but the new legislation reduces requirements to a mere 24 hours.
From the WSJ:
During a recent hearing, dozens of teachers, teachers-union officials and the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio opposed the firearms bill, which has been supported by Republican lawmakers. A number of Democrats said the bill would cause more harm than good.
Michael Weinman, director of government affairs for the police union, said in an interview that the bill is “ridiculously inadequate.” He said it lacked guidance on how guns should be worn or stored in schools. Training on how to avoid being disarmed by an attacker isn’t required, he said.
“These teachers, janitors and lunch ladies aren’t going to have that,” Mr. Weinman said. “What you’re going to have is people with very minimal training carrying firearms in schools.”
Jan 6 committee announces prime time hearing
The House select committee 6 January attack on the Capitol will hold its first hearing to share findings, in prime time next week.
🗓️ Thursday, June 9th at 8:00pm
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) June 2, 2022
The Select Committee will hold a hearing to provide the American people with a summary of our findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The hearing will make public “previously unseen material documenting January 6th, receive witness testimony, preview additional hearings, and provide the American people a summary of its findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power,” the committee said.
Additional details about witnesses will be forthcoming, it said.
The bid to recall San Francisco DA could be bellwether for progressive prosecutors, writes the Guardian’s Sam Levin:
Chesa Boudin, San Francisco’s chief prosecutor, elected on an agenda of tackling mass incarceration, is facing a recall election that could have ramifications for criminal justice reform efforts across the US.
A former public defender and the son of two leftist Weather Underground radicals who spent decades in prison, Boudin pledged to undo the harms of racism in the system, hold police accountable for misconduct and end the criminalization of poverty. After his election in November 2019, he became one of the most prominent leaders in a growing movement to elect progressive prosecutors.
Boudin, 41, enacted many campaign promises: he became the first San Francisco district attorney to charge an officer for on-duty manslaughter; created a wrongful conviction unit that freed a man imprisoned for decades; stopped prosecuting contraband cases stemming from minor traffic stops; eliminated cash bail; and reduced jail and prison populations.
But amid escalating anxieties about crime during the pandemic, Boudin has faced intensifying opposition from law enforcement, conservatives, tech investors and some constituents and elected Democrats in the city, including the mayor. Critics have blamed Boudin for the city’s struggles with violence, homelessness and addiction and have called for a law enforcement crackdown and harsher punishments.
Read more:
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Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut who was sworn into office shortly after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, has published an op-ed in Fox News calling for gun reform.
Appealing to a conservative Fox News audience, he wrote:
I believe that the Second Amendment protects a citizen’s right to buy and own firearms. But I also believe that like every constitutional right, there are limits. I don’t believe the Constitution protects the right of criminals or people with serious mental illness to own weapons. And while all of us might draw the line in a different place, I think we all agree that the Constitution allows Congress to decide which weapons are so dangerous as to be kept exclusively in the hands of the military.
And as I said on the Senate floor last week, I also acknowledge that in order to find common ground, I will need to agree to a smaller set of reforms than I would prefer. I’m willing to pass incremental change, like tightening up our background checks system and helping states pass laws to allow law enforcement to temporarily take guns away from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others. I’m also very supportive of providing more mental health resources to help young men in crisis and more funding to pay for security upgrades at our schools.
For me, the only thing we cannot do is nothing.
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The White House expects that Covid-19 vaccinations for children under 5 could begin as early as 12 June, said Dr Ashish Jha, Covid response coordinator.
“Our expectation is that within weeks, every parent who wants their child to get vaccinated will be able to get an appointment,” he said.
Children under 5 are the last remaining Americans who are not yet eligible for vaccines. Within weeks, “every parent who wants their child to get vaccinated will be able to get an appointment”, Jha said.
A decision on authorizing the vaccine for young kids is expected soon after the panel of experts advising the US Food and Drug Administration meets 14 and 15 June.
Updated
Donald Trump will “fight even harder” on the road to a possible White House run in 2024 because of the acquittal of a lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign on a charge of lying to the FBI.
“If anything, it makes me want to fight even harder,” the former president told Fox News Digital. “If we don’t win, our country is ruined. We have bad borders, bad elections and a court system not functioning properly.”
Full story:
Ohio is poised to allow teachers and other school employees to forgo hundreds of hours of training normally needed to carry a gun at work under a bill awaiting the governor’s signature.
House Bill 99 will streamline the process for school employees to carry weapons on campus, and has been welcomed by Republican governor Mike DeWine. “My office worked with the general assembly to remove hundreds of hours of curriculum irrelevant to school safety and to ensure training requirements were specific to a school environment and contained significant scenario-based training,” he said in a statement.
The bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday, has raised eyebrows given its passage following a wave of mass shootings, including at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
The Associated Press reported that it’s opposed by teachers unions, gun control advocates and law enforcement groups, and supported by some police departments and school districts. Republicans who backed the law see it as a work around for a recent court ruling that said school employees must undergo a lengthy training process before coming to work armed.
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. I’m handing the blog over to my west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, to cover Joe Biden’s speech tonight on gun violence.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Biden will deliver a primetime address at 7.30pm ET on “the need for Congress to act to pass commonsense laws to combat the epidemic of gun violence”, the White House said. The speech comes less than two weeks after a mass shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers. The massacre has intensified calls for national gun-control legislation, but it remains unclear whether any bill can pass Congress.
- The House judiciary committee held a markup hearing on Democrats’ omnibus gun-control bill, the Protecting Our Kids Act. The bill would raise the age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, and it would also establish severe restrictions on the sale and possession of high-capacity magazines, among other reforms. The committee hearing could set up a full House vote on the bill, but the legislation currently has no path to passage in the evenly divided Senate.
- Democrats on the House judiciary committee accused Republicans of being “complicit” in mass shootings by refusing to amend gun laws, while Republicans argued Democrats were moving too quickly to pass gun-control legislation days after the Uvalde tragedy. Noting that it has been 23 years since the shooting at Columbine High school, committee chairman Jerry Nadler asked his Republican colleagues, “What the hell are you waiting for?”
- Donald Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, met with the House select committee investigating January 6. Barr’s conversation with the lawmakers investigating the Capitol attack lasted for two hours, CNN reports, and he discussed his interactions with Trump before and after the 2020 election.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
A Florida legislative map that favors Republicans is set to stay in place during the state’s upcoming elections after a court declined on Thursday to block it.
The ruling, reported by Politico, adds to the woes facing Democrats in Congress, where court rulings have given Republicans an edge in redistricting, while President Joe Biden faces low approval ratings.
The Florida case centered on a Congressional district map drawn, in an unusual move, by Republican governor Ron DeSantis, rather than the legislature. Civil rights and voting groups had sued over the map, arguing it violates anti-gerrymandering clauses in the state’s constitution.
The decision by the state supreme court not to intervene in the case means an appeals court will likely decide the matter, but not before the state’s August 23 primary. The map gives Republicans an advantage in congressional districts and also dismantles the district of House Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat representing North Florida.
William Barr, who served as attorney general under former president Donald Trump, on Thursday met with the House select committee investigating January 6, CNN reports.
Barr met for two hours with lawmakers investigating the assault on the US capitol, and discussed his interactions with Trump before and after the 2020 election, CNN said, citing sources familiar with the investigation. The network also saw him in the room where interviews are done.
The meeting dealt with Barr’s interactions with Trump before and after the election, as well as his conclusion that the 2020 election was not affected by fraud, as the former president claims.
The committee’s chairman Bennie Thompson said in January that the former attorney general had spoken to the panel repeatedly. Barr was accused of turning the Justice Department into the then-president’s tool during his time as attorney general, but ultimately resigned before the end of Trump’s term.
Updated
John Hinckley, who shot and injured then-president Ronald Reagan in 1981, will have all court restrictions on him lifted later this month, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Declaring 67-year-old Hinckley is “no longer a danger to himself or others,” US district court Judge Paul L. Friedman said as he decided to release Hinckley from court oversight on June 15, the Associated Press reports.
A jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of mental insanity in the March 30, 1981 shooting that also partially paralyzed Reagan’s press secretary James Brady and injured a Secret Service agent and a Washington police officer. Hinckley was obsessed with actress Jodi Foster and the movie “Taxi Driver,” in which a character attempts to kill a presidential candidate.
Hinckley spent more than two decades in a mental hospital following the shooting before being gradually allowed to visit and eventually live in his parents’ Virginia community. The remaining restrictions include giving notice before traveling more than 75 miles from his home, allowing officials access to his electronic devices and online accounts and avoiding travel to areas where someone under Secret Service protection might be present. Friedman had made the decision to end the restrictions in September of last year but delayed its effective date to ensure Hinckley was fitting in well to his community.
Reagan died in 2004, and his foundation issued a statement objecting to the end of restrictions on Hinckley, particularly his plans to pursue a career in music. “We strongly oppose his release into society where he apparently seeks to make a profit from his infamy,” the Reagan Foundation and Institute said.
President Joe Biden’s approval rating has risen by six percentage points from the low point it hit last week, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday found, but it still lingers at an unpopular 42 percent.
A spike in inflation coupled with the chaotic US military pullout from Afghanistan sent Biden’s approval rating sinking last August, and it has struggled to recover in the months since. The poll conducted over two days of more than 1,000 US adults found that 52 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden’s performance.
The low numbers have raised alarms that Biden’s Democrats, who control both the House and Senate by narrow margins, could lose control of one or both chambers in the midterm elections set for November.
Updated
Abortion rights groups have filed a lawsuit in Florida to stop its ban on abortions after 15 weeks from taking effect next month.
The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two Planned Parenthood affiliates and six abortion providers, attempts to block the law signed by governor Ron DeSantis from being enforced starting July 1, arguing it violates the state’s constitutional guarantee of privacy.
The law “will force Floridians to remain pregnant against their will, violating their dignity and bodily autonomy, and endangering their families, their health, and even their lives,” the ACLU said in a statement announcing a suit.
Florida’s law was one of a host of measures passed by states in anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling expected later this month that could see the Roe v Wade decision allowing abortion in the United States reversed or greatly weakened. Flordia’s law is modeled on similar legislation approved in Mississippi, which is the subject of the supreme court’s deliberations.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has welcomed the OPEC+ group of oil producers’ decision earlier today to raise production by more than originally planned as Americans face high prices at the pump and increasingly turn their ire on President Joe Biden.
We welcome the important decision from OPEC+ today to increase supply in July and August based on new market conditions. This announcement brings forward the monthly production increase that was previously planned to take place in September.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) June 2, 2022
We recognize the role of Saudi Arabia as the chair of OPEC+ and its largest producer in achieving this consensus amongst the group members. We also recognize efforts and positive contributions of UAE, Kuwait, and Iraq.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) June 2, 2022
The United States will continue to use all tools at our disposal to address energy price pressures.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) June 2, 2022
Biden’s approval has slumped in recent months as the United States grapples with inflation that hit its highest level in four decades. Energy prices were pushed higher in February after Russia invaded Ukraine and Western nations retaliated with sanctions on Moscow. While the United States is itself a major source of crude and natural gas, Washington has also leaned on major producers globally to step up their output.
But as Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy points out, those efforts have yet to pay off as the summer travel season begins for Americans.
A new day
— Patrick De Haan ⛽️📊 (@GasBuddyGuy) June 2, 2022
A new record high#GasPrices now average $4.73/gal
Americans today will spend $626 million more on gasoline than one year ago.
Updated
Today so far
The House judiciary committee’s markup hearing on Democrats’ gun-control bill is still underway. Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Joe Biden will deliver a primetime address tonight on “the need for Congress to act to pass commonsense laws to combat the epidemic of gun violence”, the White House said. The speech comes less than two weeks after a mass shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers. The massacre has intensified calls for national gun-control legislation, but it remains unclear whether any bill can pass Congress.
- The House judiciary committee is considering Democrats’ omnibus gun-control bill, the Protecting Our Kids Act. The bill would raise the age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, and it would also establish severe restrictions on the sale and possession of high-capacity magazines, among other reforms. The committee hearing could set up a full House vote on the bill, but the legislation currently has no path to passage in the evenly divided Senate.
- Democrats on the House judiciary committee accused Republicans of being “complicit” in mass shootings by refusing to amend gun laws. Republicans argued Democrats were moving too quickly to pass gun-control legislation days after the Uvalde tragedy, saying they were participating in “political theater”. Noting that it has been 23 years since the shooting at Columbine High school, committee chairman Jerry Nadler asked his Republican colleagues, “What the hell are you waiting for?”
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee argued that Republican Steve Chabot’s amendment was unnecessary because schools have already enacted many of the security measures he outlined.
While Chabot said his amendment would provide schools with funds to hire resource officers who could protect students during a mass shooting, Lee noted that the Uvalde gunman used his weapons to overtake the law enforcement officers outside Robb Elementary.
“Why are we running away from the crux of the matter?” Lee asked. “Why are we running away from 19 dead children and two beloved teachers and [a] husband who just died of a broken heart?”
Republican congressman Steve Chabot proposed an amendment to Democrats’ gun-control bill that would provide funds to strengthen security measures at schools.
Chabot said the funds could be used to purchase metal detectors, identify students with mental-health issues and train school resource officers who could help protect campuses in the event of mass shootings.
“We need to do a better job of protecting both students and teachers and other personnel at our schools because they’re all vulnerable,” Chabot said at the House judiciary committee hearing.
“Adopting this common-sense amendment would be a significant step, I believe, in the right direction, and it’s something we could do.”
Biden plans primetime address on gun violence following mass shootings
President Joe Biden will address Americans at 7.30pm eastern time following mass shootings across the country, including at a Texas elementary school last week that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Biden will deliver “remarks on the recent tragic mass shootings, and the need for Congress to act to pass commonsense laws to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is taking lives every day”, the White House said.
The speech comes on the same day that the House judiciary committee is holding a hearing to mark up Democrats’ omnibus gun-control bill, the Protecting Our Kids Act.
Updated
Democrat Eric Swalwell delivered fierce criticism of his Republican colleagues, accusing them of helping mass murderers by refusing to amend America’s gun laws.
“Are you here for our kids, or are you here for the killers?” Swalwell, a Democrat of California, said at the House judiciary committee hearing.
“We’re supposed to be the protectors. We’re supposed to be here for the kids … What’s your job?” Swalwell asked Republican members of the committee.
Republican Louie Gohmert responded angrily to Swalwell’s comments, arguing that members of his party recognize the devastating costs of gun violence but do not believe Democrats’ proposed solutions are realistic.
“How dare you? You think we don’t have hearts?” Gohmert said.
Updated
One Republican member of the House judiciary committee, Greg Steube, did a show-and-tell presentation to criticize Democrats’ gun-control proposals.
Appearing at the markup hearing virtually, Steube displayed several of the firearms he owns to make a point about how stricter gun laws would impact Americans.
Steube said some of the guns he owns would be prohibited in the US if Congress enacted an assault weapons ban. (An assault weapons ban is not included in the Protecting Our Kids Act, although many Democrats support that policy.)
Rep. Greg Steube shows guns (virtually) during House Judiciary Cmte markup on gun legislation.
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 2, 2022
Rep. @JacksonLeeTX18: "I hope that is not loaded."
.@RepGregSteube: "I’m in my house, I can do whatever I want with my guns." pic.twitter.com/JaI8gFXWLj
“Their plans and their intentions are clear,” Steube said of Democrats. “They want to take away law-abiding citizens’ ability to purchase the firearm of their choice.”
At one point, Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee interrupted Steube’s comments to express concern about the firearm he was displaying. “I hope that gun is not loaded,” Lee said.
Steube replied, “I’m in my house. I can do whatever I want with my guns.”
Updated
The Republican ranking member of the House judiciary committee, Jim Jordan, again insisted that Democrats are trying to repeal the Second Amendment, even though Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly denied that.
To back up his argument, Jordan pointed to recent comments from filmmaker Michael Moore calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment, which protects the right to keep and bear arms.
In response, Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the committee, deadpanned, “I wasn’t aware that Michael Moore was a Democratic member of the House.”
McBath recounts the pain of losing a child to gun violence
Congresswoman Lucy McBath acutely understands the pain of parents in Uvalde who lost their children in last week’s mass shooting. McBath’s son, Jordan, was shot and killed in 2012, when he was just 17.
At today’s committee hearing, McBath recounted the horror of receiving the phone call that all parents fear, telling them their child is dead.
.@RepLucyMcBath: "Do we have the courage right here in this body to imagine the phone call parents across Uvalde received last week? The phone call that confirms our fear, our singular fear that my child is dead. That I was unable to protect them. Because I know that phone call." pic.twitter.com/cab3sAhYIZ
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 2, 2022
“I know that phone call. Parents across the country know that phone call. It’s a sucker punch to my stomach every time I learn there’s another phone call -- a phone call that brings you to your knees, when the desperation will not let you stand, that leaves you gasping for air, when the agony will not let you breathe,” McBath said.
“And for days and for months and for years, you cry out to God in your grief. Was my child afraid? Did he feel the pain as the bullets ripped through his skin? How long did it take him to die? Was it quick? Or did he suffer?”
Updated
Two Democrats on the House judiciary committee, Sylvia Garcia and Madeleine Dean, read the names of the 19 children who were killed in the Uvalde shooting during the markup hearing.
Garcia argued Republicans are “complicit” in recent mass shootings because they have refused to strengthen gun laws, while Dean lamented congressional inaction on gun control.
“Where is their outrage over the slaughter of 19 fourth-graders and their two teachers? Why don’t they feel an urgency to do something?” Dean asked of her Republican colleagues, as her voice shook with emotion. “This is on our watch.”
Republican Dan Bishop challenged David Cicilline’s argument that Democrats’ gun-control bill is fully compliant with the constitution, instead insisting that the proposals would infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
“And let me be clear, you are not going to bully your way into stripping Americans of fundamental rights,” Bishop said.
Cicilline tried to interject to accuse Bishop of misrepresenting constitutional precedent, but Bishop would not yield to him and continued to criticize the Democratic bill.
Congressman David Cicilline, a Democrat who has sponsored the House bill to ban assault weapons, noted that gun violence has become the leading cause of death for American kids.
“And for those who have said, ‘Oh, we’re rushing this’? More than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence since Columbine,” Cicilline said at the House judiciary committee hearing. “The real question is, why has it taken us so long?”
Echoing his colleague Sheila Jackson Lee, Cicilline pushed back against Republicans’ claims that Democrats are trying to overturn the the Second Amendment, referring to the right to keep and bear arms.
“Enough with these bogus arguments about the Second Amendment,” he said.
“The supreme court of the United States has said time and time again the Second Amendment is not absolute. The Congress and states have the ability, and I would say the responsibility, to ensure that there are appropriate restrictions both on age and places where you can bring firearms and the kinds of firearms you can possess.”
Updated
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee dismissed Republicans’ suggestions that Democrats are trying to overturn the Second Amendment, referring to the right to keep and bear arms, by strengthening gun laws.
Lee, a Democrat of Texas, recounted her conversations with a father who lost his daughter in the Uvalde shooting, and she called on her colleagues to act to save the lives of other children.
“Protecting Our Kids is a combination of humanity, courage, decency and action,” Lee said of Democrats’ gun-control bill.
“We’re in a crisis of death. We have a war on the children of America. I, for one, cannot stand in a stupor of stupidness.”
The Republican ranking member of the House judiciary committee, Jim Jordan, accused Democrats of engaging in “political theater” after the massacre in Uvalde.
“What happened in Uvalde, Texas, is tragic. It is every family’s worst nightmare,” Jordan said in his opening statement at mark up the Protecting Our Kids Act.
“No one wants another tragedy. No one wants this to happen again. That’s why it’s regretful that Democrats have rushed to a markup today in what seems more like political theater than a real attempt at improving public safety or finding solutions.”
Jordan said Democrats did not reach out to their Republican colleagues to discuss potential compromise bills to strengthen gun laws. However, Jordan has not indicated any willingness to pass gun-control legislation, instead suggesting that schools need to be provided with better security to prevent mass shootings.
“This is not a real attempt in my judgment to find solutions,” Jordan said of the Democratic bill.
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Nadler condemns inaction on gun control: 'What the hell are you waiting for?'
The Democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee, Jerry Nadler, condemned congressional inaction on gun-control legislation in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy.
Noting that it has been 23 years since the shooting at Columbine High school, Nadler dismissed Republicans’ suggestions that Democrats are moving too quickly to pass stricter gun laws.
“Too soon, my friends? What the hell are you waiting for?” Nadler said in his opening statement at the markup hearing.
Nadler acknowledged that the provisions in the Protecting Our Kids Act would not end all gun violence in America, but he argued the policies could save many lives.
“It might have saved those children in Uvalde,” Nadler said. “The American people are begging for us to address this crisis. Let us not wait one second longer.”
House judiciary committee begins hearing on gun-control bill
The House judiciary committee hearing to mark up Democrats’ gun-control bill, known as the Protecting Our Kids Act, has now started.
The omnibus bill includes a number of proposals to strengthen America’s gun laws, including raising the age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
The hearing comes less than two weeks after the devastating shooting at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which resulted in the the deaths of 19 children and two teachers.
The blog will have more updates and analysis of the hearing coming up, so stay tuned.
Joe Biden met with the prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, on Tuesday to discuss, among other things, the issue of gun violence in the wake of the Uvalde massacre.
Biden said he wanted to speak with Ardern because of the leadership she showed after the Christchurch attack in 2019, when a gunman killed 50 people at two mosques. Less than a month after the attack, New Zealand passed a bill to ban the sale of all military style semi-automatics and assault rifles.
“I want to work with you on that effort,” Biden said at the start of his meeting with Ardern. “And I want to talk to you about what those conversations were like, if you’re willing.
President Biden quotes William Butler Yeats while speaking on gun violence: "There's an expression by an Irish poet; 'Too long a suffering makes a stone of the heart.' Well, there's an awful lot of suffering...much of it is preventable and the devastation is amazing." pic.twitter.com/RdV7UgCBZD
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 31, 2022
A reporter then asked Biden whether he plans to meet with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell in the coming days. “I will meet with the Congress on guns. I promise you,” Biden replied.
Highlighting the tragic cost of gun violence in America, Biden quoted the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, who said, “Too long a suffering makes a stone of the heart.”
“Well, there’s an awful lot of suffering,” Biden said. “Much of it is preventable, and the devastation is amazing.”
It’s worth noting that the bill being debated by the House judiciary committee this morning, known as the Protecting Our Kids Act, does not include a ban on assault weapons.
The Washington Post explains why:
More than 200 House Democrats have co-sponsored an assault weapons ban bill introduced by Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.). But that’s not enough to pass the House and leadership has yet to secure the needed remaining votes, according to people familiar with the deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the state of play.
The omission of an assault weapons ban will likely disappoint gun-control advocates, who have pushed for the policy. The weapons are frequently used in mass shootings like the tragedy in Uvalde.
Former President Bill Clinton signed an assault weapons ban in 1994, but the law expired in 2004 without being reenacted.
The House judiciary committee hearing today will likely include some fierce criticism of gun-control proposals from the Republicans on the panel.
Jim Jordan, the Republican ranking member of the committee, has denounced the “hodgepodge of bills” that Democrats have proposed after the shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo.
“I think it’s just wrong to attack the Second Amendment liberties of law-abiding citizens, and that’s what these bills do,” Jordan told Fox News on Tuesday.
“The answer is to make sure you have school facilities secured, and you have security officers who are trained and well-equipped to protect kids and teachers and the educational environment – not these various bills that they’ve piled into one hodgepodge package.”
A number of Republicans have called for beefing up school security after the Uvalde shooting, where a gunman was able to overcome law enforcement officers outside Robb Elementary school and went on to kill 19 children and two teachers.
But it’s unclear how effective such policies would be. According to a Washington Post analysis of 225 school shootings between 1999 and 2018, 40% of affected campuses had a police officer on duty. The Post found only two examples of school police officers shooting attackers.
House committee to consider gun control bill after Uvalde shooting
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
The House judiciary committee will hold a mark-up hearing this morning to consider the Protecting Our Kids Act, an omnibus bill aimed at tackling the issue of gun violence in America.
The hearing comes a week after a gunman attacked Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers. Days before the Uvalde massacre, a shooter attacked a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and killed 10 people, most of whom were Black. And just yesterday, another mass shooting left four people dead in Tulsa.
The recent attacks have increased pressure on Congress to enact stricter gun laws. If approved, the Protecting Our Kids Act would raise the age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. It would also establish severe restrictions on the sale and possession of high-capacity magazines, among other reforms.
In the last 2 weeks, 31 people have been murdered and another 20 injured at the hands of two 18-year-olds legally armed with semiautomatic assault rifles.
— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) May 31, 2022
It is time for Congress to act.
That is why I am introducing and leading the charge on the ‘Protecting Our Kids Act’. https://t.co/MpbXEuO3hc
“It is time for Congress to act,” said Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee. “Our children, friends and families should not face the threat of horrific violence simply because they are grocery shopping, attending religious service, or in an elementary school classroom.”
The committee hearing could set up a full House vote on the legislation when the chamber returns from recess next week. However, even if the House approves the bill, it faces significant hurdles in the evenly divided Senate, where Republicans are sure to block the legislation. As of now, it seems unlikely that any gun-control bill can make it to Joe Biden’s desk.
The blog will be following the hearing when it kicks off at 10am ET. Stay tuned.
