It came as further details of the Orlando shooting emerged. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of CT fought to force a filibuster over gun regulations in one of the fiercest debates in the U.S.at the moment.
Advertisement
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he will meet with the country’s leading gun-rights group about keeping people on a government terrorism watch list from buying guns.
In a controversial tweet, Republican presumptive candidate Donald Trump said he will push for tighter gun control to prevent terrorism after 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who was previously investigated and cleared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, killed 49 people in a gun attack in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday.
After meeting with the families of the Orlando shooting victims, President Obama delivered a strong message against the argument that more guns will prevent mass shootings.
Trump’s latest statement suggests he has relatively backed down from his rigid stance against tighter controls on guns, but only for those who are on the terrorist watch list.
However, the NRA and other gun rights groups have long opposed gun control restrictions for those on the list, which at its peak held 800,000 people. And he sends a strong message to all those who seek to restrict our Second Amendment freedoms: “Make no mistake-the NRA will fight without apology to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves”.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill will likely find themselves in a familiar spot next week in the bitter gun control debate – stalemate. His home state saw one of the worst gun attacks with the murder of 20 school children and six adults at Sandy Hook primary school in Newtown by a lone gunman.
Democrats and Republicans are pushing competing measures in an effort to prevent terror suspects from getting access to firearms.
Some Republicans have broken ranks to express interest in moving forward, including congressman Bob Dold, who is locked in a tough re-election fight in IL.
“I’m at my wits’ end”, said Mr Murphy, as he began on Wednesday morning his hours-long takeover.
Democrats, long anxious about protecting conservative lawmakers and being viewed as soft on crime, have reversed course and now see an electoral advantage in moving to the left on guns.
Practically no member of Congress, no matter how obedient to the National Rifle Association, wants an opponent running ads that say he or she “voted against a bill that would have stopped suspected terrorists from buying guns legally in the United States”.
Advertisement
Although this specific proposition was welcomed by Democrats, Trump’s comments against Muslims have caused his fellow Republicans in Congress to stray away from supporting his claims that both sides of the aisle have said to be misaligned with America’s values.
