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Family of Uvalde victim urge Congress for tougher gun laws: ‘When is enough enough?’Sister of victim and pediatrician testify during congressional hearing on the mass school shooting at Robb elementary More
Joe Biden says US should have ‘societal guilt’ 10 years after Sandy HookPresident commemorates 2012 shooting, in which 20 children and six adults were killed in Newtown, Connecticut Joe Biden said on Wednesday the US should have “societal guilt” over taking too long to address gun violence and the curse of school shootings.Sandy Hook’s tragic legacy on gun safety takes a new turn 10 years onRead moreThe president made the remark in a statement 10 years after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, in which 20 young children and six adults were killed in Newtown, Connecticut, on 14 December 2012.Biden was then vice-president to Barack Obama.On Wednesday, he said: “Our nation watched as the unthinkable happened. Twenty young children with their whole lives ahead of them. Six educators who gave their lives protecting their students. And countless survivors who still carry the wounds of that day.“We should have societal guilt for taking too long to deal with this problem. We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again. We owe it to the courageous, young survivors and to the families who lost part of their soul 10 years ago to turn their pain into purpose.”Biden heralded progress made on gun policy reform this year – after the shooting of 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May.In June, Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the first major gun safety bill in nearly 30 years. Among other initiatives, the legislation expanded background checks for the youngest gun buyers and invested in mental health and violence intervention programs.But Biden acknowledged that more must be done, reiterating his commitment to signing an assault weapons ban, although that proposal has stalled in the Senate.“Enough is enough. Our obligation is clear,” Biden said. “We must eliminate these weapons that have no purpose other than to kill people in large numbers. It is within our power to do this – for the sake of not only the lives of the innocents lost, but for the survivors who still hope.”The Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit, defines a mass shooting as any shooting in which four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter. On Tuesday, the same source said there had been 628 such shootings in the US this year. The FBI defines mass murder as an incident with four or more people killed. The Gun Violence Archive records 36 mass murders this year.In the aftermath of Sandy Hook, working with Democrats in Congress, Biden and Obama launched a push for meaningful gun reform. It failed.In his own statement on Wednesday, Obama said 14 December 2012 was “the single darkest day of my presidency. The news from Sandy Hook elementary was devastating, a visceral blow, and like so many others, I felt not just sorrow but anger at a world that could allow such things to happen.”Obama also said: “I’ve sensed that slowly, steadily, the tide is turning; that real change is possible. And I feel that way in no small part because of the families of Sandy Hook elementary.”At the Capitol in Washington, the House oversight committee staged a hearing on violence against LGBTQ+ Americans which included testimony from survivors of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs last month, in which five people were killed.In the Senate, the two Democrats from Connecticut, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, delivered remarks to mark a decade since Sandy Hook.Both senators recounted visceral memories from 10 years ago. Both were in the Newtown firehouse as parents learned their children would not come home.“I wish I could tell you that the memory of that day has dimmed,” Blumenthal said. “I wish I could tell you that the knife-like sorrow and pain have subsided, but the fact is it is still raw and real for so many of us in Connecticut.“My mind goes back to the horrors of this day, and I think that reliving it reminds us of the need to honor those 26 lives with action.”Blumenthal and Murphy praised gun safety activists who have spent 10 years working for reform, crediting them with helping make the BSCA a reality this year. Murphy said the law was already proving its impact, citing examples of blocked gun purchases to individuals considered to be at risk of committing violence.“What we have done isn’t enough,” Murphy said in his speech. “It doesn’t absolve us of the responsibility to do more, but it is saving lives.”Murphy has become a champion of gun reform, telling the Guardian earlier this month the movement “is more powerful than the gun lobby” and adding: “I think we are now poised to rack up victory after victory for gun safety.”In a statement released before his speech on Wednesday, the senator said the US had become “a different place” in the decade since Sandy Hook.10 years since Sandy Hook – what’s changed? Politics Weekly America special – podcastRead more“Mostly today, I will think of all the greatness and beauty that was robbed from this world, when these promising lives were cut short.“Mostly, I will spend my day today sending every good thought I have to the family members who lost loved ones that day, to the survivors of the shooting, to the first responders, and to the community of Newtown that will never be the same.“But also today, I will be thankful. I will be thankful for all the good that has resulted from this horror. Those parents, and the community of Newtown, have chosen to rise from that tragedy and build dozens of efforts that have changed lives for the better all over our nation.“Many in Newtown have helped build the modern anti-gun violence movement, that finally this summer achieved the first federal gun safety bill in almost 30 years.”TopicsNewtown shootingJoe BidenUS gun controlUS politicsnewsReuse this content More
Senator Chris Murphy: ‘victory after victory’ is coming for US gun controlA decade after the Sandy Hook shooting, the Democrat believes the US is ready to embrace change around firearms Senator Chris Murphy believes that the tide is finally turning in favor of the gun safety movement in America. 10 years since Sandy Hook – what’s changed? Politics Weekly America special – podcastRead moreEven as Murphy acknowledges that more work is needed to address gun violence, the prominent Connecticut Democrat maintains that a growing backlash to mass shootings has brought the country to the brink of a sea change – 10 years after the devastating Sandy Hook school shooting in his home state.“We’ve built a movement in this country in the last 10 years that today, I would argue, is more powerful than the gun lobby,” Murphy said in an interview for a special episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly America podcast.“I think we are now poised to rack up victory after victory for gun safety,” he said.That reinvigorated movement emerged in the aftermath of the Newtown shooting and grew as subsequent atrocities sparked new activist groups and campaigns. Murphy still vividly remembers where he was when he got the news on 14 December 2012, that a shooter had attacked Sandy Hook elementary school. He was on a train platform in Bridgeport, Connecticut, preparing to take his family to New York to see the holiday decorations, when his chief of staff gave him the first fragments of news.“At first I thought it was a workplace shooting,” Murphy said. “But then, shortly before the train arrived, [we] got the news that there were children involved.”Democrats issue fresh calls for assault weapons ban after shooting tragediesRead moreMurphy soon learned that 20 young children and six staff had been killed at the school.The tragedy stunned the country but spurred millions of Americans to demand changes to gun laws, with Murphy playing a central role in the efforts.Since Sandy Hook, each time another mass shooting occurred, Murphy has taken to the Senate floor to urge his colleagues to act.“What are we doing? Why are you here if not to solve a problem as existential as this?” Murphy demanded just this May, after a gunman killed 19 children and two educators at a school in Uvalde, Texas, and a racism-driven mass shooting occurred in Buffalo, New York, the same month.“I‘m here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: find a path forward here,” Murphy said.Murphy’s pleas for action and growing public outrage and activism finally produced results, as the Senate this year passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). Joe Biden signed the bill in June, marking the first time in nearly 30 years that the US approved a new major federal gun law. The BSCA expanded background checks for the youngest gun buyers and allocated funding for mental health and crisis intervention programs, among other initiatives.A number of policies demanded by gun safety advocates, including an assault weapons ban, did not make it into the BSCA. But Murphy and his allies point to the legislation, along with widespread public support for proposals like universal background checks, to argue that America is finally ready to make significant changes.The road ahead is still difficult. In just the few weeks since Murphy spoke to the Guardian, several more mass shootings occurred, from Colorado to Virginia.Murphy is the first to admit that it will take some time for the new federal law and other state policies to take effect, and more action is needed.“We haven’t seen the murder rates or the pace of mass shootings reduce. [But] once these laws start to get passed and put into place, I hope that we’re going to see some real returns,” Murphy said.Gun safety advocates insist that more regulations can result in fewer gun deaths. One study by the group Everytown for Gun Safety non-profit found a direct correlation between states with weaker gun laws and states with the highest levels of deaths caused by guns, including homicides, suicides and accidental killings.Divisions run deep in Uvalde after school shooting: ‘If you’re not trying you’re complicit’Read moreEven so, Republican lawmakers remain largely opposed to reforming federal gun policy. Fifteen Republican senators voted for the BSCA, ensuring enough support to overcome a filibuster. But more than two-thirds of Senate Republicans still opposed it. In the House, 193 Republicans voted against the BSCA, while just 14 of them joined Democrats in supporting it.Republicans’ broad opposition will make it extremely difficult to enact additional gun laws in the near future, especially after the party took control of the House in November’s midterm elections.Murphy concedes that Senate Democrats do not currently have the votes to pass an assault weapons ban.Still, he sees encouraging signs that more Republicans are willing to defy the National Rifle Association (NRA) on gun-related votes. For years, the NRA appeared to have an unshakable hold on the party, using its influence to block any gun bill. “Ten years ago, it would have been unthinkable for a gun safety bill to pass the Senate with NRA opposition,” Murphy said. “Now, a whole bunch of Republican senators know that the NRA does not even represent gun owners any longer. And thus, they’re not paying as much attention.”But even as the NRA’s influence on the public and the GOP has waned, the anti-gun violence movement has encountered new hurdles. Earlier this year, the conservative-leaning US supreme Court struck down a New York law that strictly regulated carrying firearms outside the home, jeopardizing similar state policies across the country.The gun death rate also hit a 30-year high last year, as research suggests that a growing number of Americans are carrying firearms on a daily basis. And as more states allow residents to openly carry, guns are becoming a common fixture at rightwing political protests.Murphy is hopeful, however. If the 10 years between 2012 and 2022 were defined by many disappointing losses for the movement, Murphy predicts more positive change ahead.“I think you will see steady progress,” he said. “It won’t be everything that I want. We won’t get a ban on assault weapons overnight, but we’ll make regular progress. And that, I think, is what will define the next decade.”TopicsUS gun controlUS school shootingsNewtown shootingPodcastsUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More
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On 14 December it will be 10 years since the Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting, when a 20-year-old killed 20 children aged six and seven, as well as six adults.
The Guardian’s Joan E Greve travelled to Newtown, Connecticut to speak with Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden of Sandy Hook Promise, the parents of Dylan and Daniel, who were killed that day. She meets teenagers from the Junior Newtown Action Alliance, who now go through terrifying lockdown drills as preparation for another shooting, who want to see more change in gun legislation. She also speaks with Senator Chris Murphy, who helped draft the first significant gun control policy in the US in 30 years this year.
Together they discuss what more could and should be done to stop such tragedies
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Democrats issue fresh calls for assault weapons ban after shooting tragediesQuestions also raised about the funding of law enforcement agencies in places that refuse to enforce so-called red flag laws Gun control returned as a leading topic over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats issuing fresh calls for a ban on assault weapons for the general public.At the same time, questions were raised about the funding of law enforcement agencies in places that refuse to enforce so-called red flag laws, after shooting tragedies in Virginia and Colorado in the last two weeks.“If you passed an assault weapons ban you would see less mass shootings in this country,” Connecticut’s Democratic US Senator and leading gun control advocate, Chris Murphy, said on Sunday.He added: “You are not going to magically eliminate mass-shootings, but an AR-15, or AR-15 style weapon, is generally the choice of mass shooters.”Such a military-style rifle was used in the shooting at an LGBTQ night club in Colorado last weekend, although different firearms were used in the shootings of University of Virginia football team players earlier in the month and at a Walmart store, also in Virginia, two days before Thanksgiving, in a tragic spate of violence.‘It’s the guns’: violent week in a deadly year prompts familiar US responsesRead moreThe Democrat lawmaker pointed to a “dramatic decline” in mass-shootings after the decade-long assault weapons ban passed in 1994. “It wasn’t until the expiration date of the ban that we started to see mass shootings spiral up”.With Biden returning to the White House on Sunday afternoon after spending the Thanksgiving break with his family in Nantucket, the gun issue returned to prominence.On Thursday’s Thanksgiving day itself, Biden spoke about the “scourge” of gun violence, saying he wants to sign into law a ban on high-powered guns that have the capacity to kill many people quickly.“The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick,” Biden said. “I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons.”The Democratic-led House passed legislation in July to revive the 1990s-era ban on assault weapons, following the passage of a landmark bipartisan bill on guns, strengthening background checks and red flag laws, which allow authorities to remove firearms from those posing a danger.Colorado Springs shooter had allegedly threatened his mother with a bomb. Why could he still get a gun?Read moreBut the legislation is going nowhere in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to pass and Democrats lack Republican support.House majority whip Jim Clyburn admitted that an assault weapons ban and other gun restrictions would not get through Congress, even in the lame duck session while Democrats still control the House, but that did not mean it was not worth pursuing.“Just because it’s legal [to buy a gun] doesn’t mean it’s the right thing. Slavery was legal but it was not right,” he said.Murphy, who has been the Senate’s leading advocate for stronger gun control since at a school in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, also told CNN on Sunday that one avenue Democrats might pursue is to restrict federal funding for law enforcement in counties that declare themselves gun sanctuaries.“We learned in Colorado that the county in which the shooting happened was a so-called second amendment sanctuary state,” Murphy said. “The majority of counties in this country have declared that they’re not going enforce state and federal gun laws.”“It’s a growing problem in the country and we’re going to have to have a conversation about that in the Senate. Do we want to to continue to supply funding to law enforcement in counties that refuse to implement state and federal gun laws?”Red flag laws, Murphy added, had proved wildly popular across the county but “we have to do something” about the refusal by 60% of counties to enforce gun control laws.On NBC, Kentucky Republican congressman James Comer said in respect of any additional gun regulations: “We already have many gun laws on the books … the number one priority with respect to crime in America for Republicans is going to be the fentanyl crisis” with respect to the traffic in illicit drugs across the US-Mexico border.NBC’s Meet the Press host, Chuck Todd, noted to Comer that “the states that have the most gun [control] laws have the least amount of per capita gun crime, and the states with the least amount of gun laws seem to have the most … so there is a correlation here, if you have more gun-related laws on the books as a state you have … fewer gun-related deaths. That’s been proven statistically.”Comer responded that in rural America most households had guns and “there aren’t a lot of crimes” because criminals know people are armed.TopicsUS gun controlColoradoUS politicsJoe BidenDemocratsnewsReuse this content More
Before the shooting, the city grappled with police corruption, entrenched gun culture and the lasting wounds of segregation. Now the illusion of ‘Uvalde Strong’ has ruptured as families demand changeby More
Gun reformers feel history is on their side despite bleak outlook in CongressThe few Republican supporters of gun restrictions have faced backlash from the party faithful When Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law this summer, he and congressional Democrats celebrated the enactment of the first significant gun control policy in decades in the US.The US president also acknowledged that the law, a bipartisan compromise brokered after the Uvalde tragedy that left 19 children and two adults dead, did not go nearly far enough to address the devastation caused by gun violence.“I know there’s much more work to do, and I’m never going to give up,” Biden said in June.Although Democrats and activists agree that much more needs to be done to combat gun violence, legislative progress on this lightning-rod issue could soon become even more difficult. With crucial midterm elections looming, the prospect of meaningful progress on gun reform now looks unlikely – despite widespread domestic revulsion at continuing gun violence and bafflement overseas at the US gun problem.If Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives after the midterm elections this November, as they are favored to do, proposed gun regulations will probably be dead on arrival in Congress. Despite those obstacles, anti–gun violence activists and their allies on Capitol Hill insist they are not giving up on their goal to see more desperately needed change in the months and years to come.The Democratic senator Chris Murphy, who played a leading role in negotiations over the BSCA, said on Tuesday that he considers the law to be proof of potential bipartisan cooperation on gun regulations.The compromise secured by Murphy and the Republican senator John Cornyn expanded background checks for firearm buyers under the age of 21, and it enacted new gun restrictions for those previously convicted on domestic violence charges. The legislation also provided financial incentives for states to enact “red-flag laws”, which help keep guns away from those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others, and it provided funding for more mental health services to children and families.Speaking at an event in Washington organized by the Common Ground Committee, Murphy credited the anti–gun violence movement and an engaged citizenry in forcing Congress to finally act nearly a decade after the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in his home state of Connecticut.“The reason that we found common ground this summer is because the American public had had enough of inaction,” Murphy said at George Washington University. “While Sandy Hook shook this country to the core, it’s really been the cumulative impact of mass shooting after mass shooting, as well as suicides and homicides continuing to spiral upward, that brought the public to a point this summer where they just weren’t willing to accept Congress retreating to their corners.”But while the passage of the BSCA offered some hope for supporters of stricter gun laws, the negotiation process also displayed the sharp partisan divides on this polarizing issue. Just 14 House Republicans supported the bill, while 193 opposed it. After playing a leading role in the negotiations over the bill, Cornyn was booed and heckled at a Republican convention in his home state of Texas.Former Republican congressman Will Hurd, who joined Murphy at Tuesday’s event, acknowledged the political pressure that members of his party face from some voters when they back new gun restrictions. Nodding to the widespread public support that policies like universal background checks and a higher age limit for gun purchases enjoy, Hurd encouraged his former colleagues to take proactive steps to prevent future tragedies.“This is something that people want to see happen and so don’t be afraid of some of these issues that might have had a different political constituency in the 90s,” Hurd told reporters after the event. He added, “It always requires political courage to do something that’s difficult and that is not embraced by everybody.”As of now, House Republicans have shown little interest in taking up new gun regulations if they regain control of the chamber in November. Even if Democrats retain control of the Senate, Republicans would be able to block any gun control bill in the House if they have the majority.But Hurd, who previously represented the Uvalde community in the House, said political pressure could change the calculus for Republican lawmakers if a similar tragedy occurs again.“If a terrible action like this happens in the future and there’s not going to be a response, I think you’re going to see a public backlash,” Hurd said.That grim possibility is a near certainty in the US, as Tuesday’s event vividly demonstrated. One audience member who posed a question to Murphy and Hurd said that he was a survivor of the Highland Park shooting, which left seven people dead. The attack unfolded just days after Biden signed the BSCA into law.In the face of such tragedy, anti–gun violence activists have doubled down on their commitment to push for more reform, regardless of who controls Congress after November.Murphy echoed that commitment, even as he conceded that Congress was unlikely to pass another gun control bill this year. Praising the anti–gun violence community as “one of the great social change movements in the history of this nation,” Murphy said he and his allies were just getting started.“All of those great social change movements that you read about in the history books, they failed a whole bunch of times before they ever changed the world,” Murphy said. “My hope is based upon the history books, which tell you – when your cause is right and you choose not to give up, in this country, in a democracy – you eventually prevail.”TopicsUS gun controlGun crimeUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More
New York enacts new gun restrictions in response to supreme court decisionAfter court overturned 1911 New York law, state lawmakers produced act to create ‘gun-free zones’ and strengthen gun control measures After a federal judge said New York could implement gun restrictions passed after the US supreme court struck down a century-old law, the state attorney general saluted “a victory in our efforts to protect New Yorkers”.Texas judge overturns state ban on young adults carrying gunsRead more“Responsible gun control measures save lives and any attempts by the gun lobby to tear down New York’s sensible gun control laws will be met with fierce defense of the law,” Letitia James said on Wednesday night.In June, in the aftermath of mass shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, the conservative-dominated US supreme court overturned a New York law passed in 1911.The law said anyone wanting to carry a handgun in public had to prove “proper cause”.Justice Clarence Thomas said the 111-year-old law was a violation of the second amendment right to bear arms and also the 14th amendment, which made second-amendment rights applicable to the states.“Apart from a few late-19th-century outlier jurisdictions,” Thomas wrote, “American governments simply have not broadly prohibited the public carry of commonly used firearms for personal defense.”In dissent, Stephen Breyer, a liberal, wrote: “In 2020, 45,222 Americans were killed by firearms. Since the start of this year there have been 277 reported mass shootings – an average of more than one per day.”The same source, the Gun Violence Archive, now puts that total at 450.Breyer wrote: “Gun violence has now surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death among children and adolescents. Many states have tried to address some of the dangers of gun violence … the court today severely burdens states’ efforts to do so.”Joe Biden said: “I call on Americans across the country to make their voices heard on gun safety. Lives are on the line.”Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, said: “The supreme court is setting us backwards … This decision is not just reckless, it’s reprehensible.”Hochul called the legislature back into session. It produced the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, or CCIA.As defined by James, the CCIA “strengthens requirements for concealed carry permits, prohibits guns in sensitive locations, allows private businesses to ban guns on their premises, enhances safe storage requirements, requires social media review ahead of certain gun purchases, and requires background checks on all ammunition purchases to protect New Yorkers”.The law was challenged by the Gun Owners of America and the Gun Owners Foundation. On Wednesday, the GOA said the CCIA “would essentially make all of NY a gun-free zone and infringes upon the rights of its citizens”.Judge Glenn Suddaby, of the US district court in the northern district of New York, said the two gun groups lacked standing to bring the case.But Suddaby also indicated support, describing “a strong sense of the safety that a licensed concealed handgun regularly provides, or would provide, to the many law-abiding responsible citizens in the state too powerless to physically defend themselves in public without a handgun”.An appeal is likely. The CCIA went into effect on Thursday.On Wednesday the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, said: “The US supreme court’s … decision was the shot heard round the world that took dead aim at the safety of all New Yorkers.“New York City will defend itself against this decision, and, beginning tomorrow, new eligibility requirements for concealed carry permit applicants and restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons in ‘sensitive locations’, like Times Square, take effect.”The new law has prompted a change in what New York City authorities officially consider to be Times Square. As the New York Times reported, the new boundaries extend far beyond the traffic-choked and neon-blitzed Midtown hub known to tourists worldwide but largely avoided by locals.Under CCIA, the Times Square “gun free zone” will run “from Ninth to Sixth Avenues and from 53rd to 40th Streets and consists of about three dozen blocks”, the paper said.One New Yorker interviewed by the Times dismissed the idea that the Port Authority Bus Terminal, on Eighth Avenue, could be considered part of Times Square, even in order to make it a gun-free zone.“Nah,” Robert Govan, 62, told the city’s paper of record. “No way. Not going to happen.”TopicsNew YorkUS gun controlUS politicsUS supreme courtUS constitution and civil libertiesLaw (US)newsReuse this content More
