The United States continues to reel from seven mass shootings in seven days, with one in Atlanta, Georgia that killed six Asian American women and eight people in total, along with another in a Boulder, Colorado grocery store that killed 10 people, including a police officer.
After the shooting in Boulder, President Joe Biden called on lawmakers to ban assault weapons once again, saying:
"While we're still waiting on more information regarding the shooter, his motive, the weapons he used, the guns, the magazines, the modifications to those weapons that have apparently taken place here, I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take commonsense steps that will save lives in the future. We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again."
The tragedies come less than two weeks after the House of Representatives passed a pair of gun law reform bills that would expand background checks for gun owners and extend time for the FBI to conduct these background checks.
As a result, Republicans are scrambling to justify why these mass shootings are necessary for Americans to be free, and why any restrictions or heightened thresholds for gun ownership are an infringement on the Second Amendment.
But one conservative-leaning newspaper—the New York Post—sided with Biden in an op-ed from its editorial board.
It reads in part:
"The New York Post does not see this as a conservative or liberal issue — it's an issue of life and death. Curbing guns is what led to New York City's three-decade reduction in murders. And, sadly, it's the dismissal of that progress that has led to a rise in shootings here. Outside the city, the toll of semi-automatic weapons is a sad litany of cities and schools: Newtown, Parkland, Aurora, Las Vegas. It's a national shame."
The paper—owned by the same family that owns Fox News, the Murdochs—saw instant backlash from conservatives.
But not everyone was opposed.
But until something is done about the 60 vote threshold imposed by the Senate filibuster, even moderate gun law reform is almost certain to fail.
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