Early Sunday in Orlando, Florida, a gunman opened fire at a nightclub, killing 49 people before police fatally shot him.
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The motivations of the shooter, Omar Mateen, remain under investigation, but initial reports suggested he may have been influenced by Islamic terrorist groups and had expressed anger over same-sex couples.
Democrats said they would offer the same legislation that the Senate rejected last December by California Democratic Sen. The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub-it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights. He’s also mindful that his administration has overseen the dawn of a new era of domestic attacks and it is incumbent to try to explain the forces at play. In fact, current federal law allows people on the FBI watch list to buy a gun.
Casey’s Hate Crime Prevention Act would ban the sale and ownership of firearms for people convicted of committing a misdemeanor hate crime and for those who have received a “hate crime sentence enhancement”. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) crafted such a bill, but it failed 54 to 46 in April 2013. Bob Casey introduced the companion measure on Monday.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, asked by a reporter whether he expected Republicans to oppose the legislation again, said: “Except (Senator Mark) Kirk… one out of 54 I guess is better than nothing”. Chuck Schumer of NY and other Democrats said while they are interested in passing other gun control measures – such as universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons – they want to focus now to prevent suspected terrorists from retaining their rights to buy weapons. “And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be”.
He said executive actions Obama took in January to tighten gun access laws were “substantial”, and seemed to indicate the president has gone about as far as he legally can.
On the eve of key votes on a package of 11 gun control bills, California lawmakers on Monday cited the Orlando massacre as a call for approval of the measures, and opponents of the measures accused the legislators of exploiting a tragedy.
Republicans also point to a counter proposal from Sen. The proposal also would give the attorney general the power to block firearms transfers to anyone with known or suspected links to terrorism or anyone who might use a firearm to engage in terrorism, even if that person is not already on a list.
“The 1994 “assault weapons” ban was nothing more or less than a ban on some firearms by name, and others by a combination of purely cosmetic features”, he wrote.
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Clinton, seeking to become the first female US president, said that if Trump “is somehow suggesting I don’t call this for what it is, he hasn’t been listening.
