Matt Bush, FISM News
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is calling for patience after the tragedy in Nashville while lawmakers “look at the facts” before any legislation is pursued.
“I don’t think one piece of legislation solves this,” McCarthy said. “I think a nation together, working together, solves a problem that’s much bigger than us.”
House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries (D-N.Y.), on the other hand, wrote a letter to McCarthy that reads in part, “It is time for Congress to put kids over guns.”
First on @NY1, from me >>
In a letter to @SpeakerMcCarthy, Dem Leader @RepJeffries is demanding the GOP-led House bring up gun reform legislation for a vote “immediately” upon Congress's return to Capitol Hill next month.
"Our children cannot wait." pic.twitter.com/2xEIVChJHZ
— Kevin Frey (@KevinFreyTV) March 31, 2023
“Communities across the country are frustrated and dismayed with congressional inaction. Our schools have become killing fields and our children slaughtered by weapons of war,” Jeffries wrote in the letter to McCarthy. “It is time for Congress to put kids over guns.”
It seems that every time there is an act of violence or a mass shooting in America, Democrats and Republicans react in different and predictable ways. A recent FISM story highlighted the difference between what Republicans and Democrats said about Trump’s indictment, and that same basic story could be written here.
Most Republicans react calmly and call for Americans to wait and to focus on root causes of gun violence, like mental health issues or preventative safety measures that could be taken in schools.
“There will be time for legislation conversations but now is a time for prayers and support for the victims’ families,” said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R).
Democrats often react emotionally and call for action over prayer and the immediate removal of assault weapons from the streets by passing President Biden’s assault weapons ban.
“We owe these families more than our prayers,” Biden told a crowd in Durham, NC. “We owe them action. You know, we have to do more to stop this gun violence.” Biden also said that the Second Amendment is not absolute and that Republicans should act to pass his assault weapons ban.
In today’s political world, there are numerous polarizing topics that seem to pit Democrats against Republicans socially and fiscally, and gun control is one of those topics. In another scene from Wednesday, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-N.Y.) got into a shouting match in the halls of the Capitol:
Recently, McCarthy made a statement that Americans from both sides of the aisle should hear: “There’s not one person in America [who] doesn’t want to solve all this.”
What is clear is that shouting matches in the Capitol has not and will not work. Partisan gun control bills pushed by Democrats to a Republican-controlled House will not work. Doing nothing but talking about mental health issues has not and will not work.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said, “We need a real revival in this country. Let’s call on our Christian ministers and our people of faith,” and that should be the first step. The church is bipartisan and prayer does not rely on a particular political party.
The second step is for Republicans like McCarthy and Democrats like Jeffries to work together to find common ground for legislation that would make sense to help put an end to gun violence while keeping the Second Amendment intact. After all, as McCarthy said, there is not one American who does not want to “solve all this.”