Congresswoman Admits Gun Violence ‘Continues To Be Problem for Republicans’
Rep Mace mostly sidesteps gun safety reform, however
A Republican congresswoman has gotten it about half-right when it comes to the epidemic of gun violence surging across the United States.
Rep Nancy Mace, of South Carolina, admits that legislative inaction on new gun safety reform “continues to be a problem” for her Republican Party, but — except for endorsing wider background checks for potential buyers of firearms — she remains silent on endorsing new gun safety reform measures.
Her comments came amidst the nation's latest mass shooting, this time in small-town Dadeville, Ala., where a shooter opened fire at a Sweet 16 birthday party. The rampage left four dead and dozens injured. The killings reportedly remain under investigation.
Republicans generally have not been willing to move forward with further regulations to curb the availability of weapons — particularly high-powered, military-style guns.
The White House released a statement from President Biden in response to the Alabama attack, which read, in part:
This is outrageous and unacceptable. Americans agree and want lawmakers to act on commonsense gun safety reforms. Instead, this past week Americans saw national Republican elected leaders stand alongside the NRA in a race to the bottom on dangerous laws that further erode gun safety. Our communities need and deserve better.
Despite right-wing intransigence, majorities of Americans back restrictions on the ability of others to own guns. Aside from background checks, most Americans support measures like future sale of assault-style weapons and establishing a national gun ownership database to register all guns in the country.
Mace acknowledged the problem that her fellow Republicans must begin to address. However, in her on-camera appearance Sunday on Fox News, asserted, the issue is “not about gun control.”
“There are plenty of things that we can be doing besides offering prayers and silence. Some sort of AMBER alert, for example, to let the community know there’s been a shooting, strengthening our background checks is something that the vast majority of Americans support,” Mace said. “Hardening our schools, churches and synagogues so there is deterrence so that when a potential mass shooter enters a place, that they know that maybe they are not going to make it through because there's bulletproof doors, bulletproof windows.
“You know, those kinds of common-sense things are all things that every American on either side of the aisle can get behind,” she added. “But yet, every time there’s a mass shooting — and they are increasing every year, every week — we do not say anything and we want to bury our heads in the sand and hope that it goes away. But guess what? It’s not going away. I see it.”
The issue of guns increasingly could become a serious political headache for Republicans in future elections should they not act, Mace added.
“I’m a very purple district even though I’m in South Carolina. It is an issue that continues to be a problem for Republicans. And we have not learned anything from the midterm elections if we are going to sit here on our hands silently not offering any type of solution to reduce gun violence in our country,” she said. “It's not about gun control.”
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