Following the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio this weekend that claimed the lives of over 30 innocent people and injured dozens others, President Trump delivered prepared remarks Monday in which he called for bipartisan action on gun control, particularly “red flag” laws. Now, Republicans in the Senate are reportedly unifying behind legislation which would be, as The New York Times puts it, “the most significant gun control legislation enacted in 20 years.”
After condemning white supremacy and all forms of racial bigotry, Trump urged legislators to take bipartisan action to prevent future atrocities. Among the priorities he listed for moving forward are doing a more effective job of “identifying and acting on early warning signs” and making sure that those who “pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms.”
“We must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms, and that if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for red-flag laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders,” Trump said in his list of “just a few of the areas of cooperation that we can pursue.”
“Republicans and Democrats have proven that we can join together in a bipartisan fashion to address this plague,” he stressed, citing the legislation on school protection and gun violence enacted in 2018. “Last year we enacted the Stop School Violence and Fix NICS Acts into law, providing grants to improve school safety and strengthening critical background checks for firearm purchases. At my direction, the Department of Justice banned bump stocks. Last year we prosecuted a record number of firearms offenses. But there is so much more that we have to do.” – READ MORE