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For once, the U.S. Senate seems poised to finally actually pass common-sense legislation on gun safety in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas shooting as a handful of key Republican Senators have joined Democrats in supporting the Safer Communities Act.
But while the bill is far from a left-winger's gun-safety dream, for former Republican President Donald Trump the bill amounts to one thing and one thing only--"Radical Left Democrats" trying to "TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY."
And while all-caps yelling a bunch of outright lies like an old man screaming at the sky, he's also targeting two of the most right-wing, obstructionist Republicans in Senate history, Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn, as "RINO(s)" for supporting the bill.
Because only "Republicans In Name Only" would support basic-level gun-safety measures that may well have prevented the Uvalde shooter from buying the weapon with which he slaughtered 21 people. Unfettered death is a core value of the GOP, darn it!
At least it is according to Trump, who basically posted as such on his beleaguered social media platform Truth Social, seen below in screenshot form because Truth Social hasn't figured out how to make posts embeddable yet, in 2022.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Trump wrote:
"The deal on G'un Control' currently being structured and pushed in the Senate by the Radical Left Democrats, with the help of Mitch McConnell, RINO Senator John Cornyn of Texas, and others, will go down in history as the first step in the movement to TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY."
"Republicans, be careful what you wish for!!!"
As usual with former President Trump, there is essentially no truth to this particular bit of Truth Social.
The bipartisan Safer Communities Act enhances background checks for gun purchasers under 21 and provides federal grants to states to pass red flag laws and increase mental health and school safety services.
It also closes the so-called "boyfriend loophole" in current laws aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of convicted domestic abusers, which presently only apply to spouses or parents of victims.
You'll notice that at no point was any effort to "TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY" mentioned, nor are these even particularly draconian responses to gun violence. In fact, many on the left have complained that the Safer Communities Act doesn't go far enough.
That's because the bill's proposals have been pulled back in an effort to attract a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate and actually get something accomplished on the issue for once after nearly a quarter-century of failed attempts.
So far it seems to have worked--the Senate voted to advance the bill 64-34 on Tuesday, a ratio that increased by one vote earlier today when the body voted 65-34 to move it forward for final passage.
Trump's histrionics on the issue are particularly interesting given his past statements about gun control while President in which he called for some of the new bill's key provisions, like red flag laws and enhanced background checks.
And on Twitter, people found Trump's knee-jerk all-capsing ridiculous, and dragged him hard for it of course.
Following today's procedural vote the Safer Communities Act is all but certain to pass its final vote, which should come before the week is out.