Sen. Toomey: Biden not helpful in gun reform
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 30: Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) leaves the Senate chamber on January 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
OAN NEWSROOM
UPDATED 9:30 AM PT – Monday, June 6, 2022
Republicans have lamented that the path to solving gun violence in America seems to be impossible amid an extremely partisan White House. This comes as Democrats in Washington, D.C. seem to be unwilling to lay down their partisan arms to solve the problem of gun violence.
While speaking on Face the Nation Sunday, lame duck Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) lamented Biden has not been helpful in current negotiations. Toomey was tapped to be on a bipartisan group that seeks to bring forward legislation that hopes to lessen the likelihood of mass shootings. The Pennsylvania Republican stressed he and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) have advocated to expand background checks for private purchases. However, Toomey claims Biden misled voters when he campaigned on being the unifying president who would reach across the aisle.
“He has sided with the far left of his party and really not reached out to Republicans,” said the GOP senator. “He gave a speech on this topic where he advocated policies that he knows for sure have no chance of passing the Senate, probably couldn’t even get 50 votes…So once again, the President is not being very helpful. I think at the end of the day, this is going to come down to whether we can reach a consensus in the United States Senate.”
Expanded background checks make sense.
We all agree that violent criminals and dangerously mentally ill people should not have firearms. We need a mechanism to increase the likelihood that we'll identify such a person and prevent them from buying a gun legally. pic.twitter.com/EBFymLe9OD
— Senator Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) June 5, 2022
Additionally, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) warned Democrats’ objective is to take guns away from law abiding citizens. The Louisiana lawmaker claimed Democrat proposals to adopt red flag laws is unconstitutional and would allow the federal government to seize firearms from individuals based on an assumption they pose a threat. He asserted that even a liberal federal court upheld the Second Amendment by striking down a bill raising the gun ownership age in California. Scalise urged lawmakers to focus their efforts on actual solutions.
“We need to be focused more on stopping things before they happen,” he noted. “This isn’t something that we’re having a conversation about right now and it should be. It immediately becomes about Democrats wanting to take away guns.”
Meanwhile, top officials within the Biden administration officials are trying to end mass shootings by launching a barrage of ad hominem attacks across the aisle. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg slammed Republicans for criticizing school doorways in light of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. This comes as reports indicate a door was open at Robb Elementary School that allowed the shooter to enter and kill 21 people.
“The idea that us being the only developed country where this happens routinely, especially in terms of the mass shootings, is somehow a result of the design of the doorways on our school buildings is the definition of insanity of not the definition of denial,” said Buttigieg,
In the meantime, experts have warned Democrats could try to jam through gun control bills through the House while the lower chamber has a slim majority. However, they said those proposals would likely be blocked in the 50-50 Senate.