Republicans in Congress are trying to politicize Wednesday’s shooting of Republican House Whip Steve Scalise, along with five other people who were injured. They are calling the act “horrific” and even trying to place blame on liberals for the shooter’s supposed political ideology of being a Bernie Sanders supporter. Well, that’s only going to get them so far.
The real issue here is gun deregulation. And, it turns out there was a hearing scheduled that very same day by a GOP-sponsored bill with the leader of the NRA that was aiming to deregulate gun silencers. It was the first gun rights hearing to take place since President Trump came into office.
Directly after the shooting, Republican leaders decided to cancel the hearing in order to not draw too much attention to what they were doing.
According to Think Progress:
The GOP-sponsored bill up for debate in the House Natural Resources Committee, the Sportsmen Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act (SHARE Act), would have removed gun silencers from the list of items regulated by the 1934 National Firearms Act.
Silencers — also referred to as suppressors by the gun lobby — reduce the noise emitted from firearms. Under current law, they are regulated as strictly as machine guns and short-barreled rifles, but the gun lobby claims that these regulations are costly and unnecessary. They argue it’s more important to protect law-abiding gun owners against potential hearing loss.
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), who was at the baseball game where the shooting occurred, was the one who introduced the measure in the first place. On Tuesday, just one day prior to the incident, he tweeted out that he was “very proud” of this. Apparently, Republicans are more concerned with the “hearing” of gun owners than the proliferation of their use. People could commit more crimes and get away with it more often.
Gun silencers have been one of the most tightly regulated firearms products in the United States since 1934. Now Congress may eliminate those restrictions, which everybody agrees could mean millions of more silencers in the hands of American gun owners.
But, deregulation will only lead to more violence and make it much harder for law enforcement to do their jobs.
“The proliferation of silencers would introduce a menacing new threat to our nation’s communities and our law enforcement professionals,” Sean Simons, deputy press secretary at Americans for Responsible Solutions, told The Trace.
The hearing is likely to be re-scheduled, and still up for debate when the media frenzy on the topic diminishes. What are Republicans afraid of? Why not hold the hearing when the American public is most concerned about gun violence?
Molly Block, the press secretary for Republicans on the committee, released a statement saying: “Given today’s events… committee hearings are to be delayed.”
While Wednesday’s shooting was certainly horrific, what actually needs to be taking place in Washington is another healthy debate on gun violence – and everyone should support that. The Trump administration has already taken steps making it easier for fugitives and the mentally ill to buy guns – this needs to be talked about. Liberals aren’t to blame for this, despite the current hoopla surrounding the shooter.
“A lot of this legislation is stuff written by lawmakers beholden to the gun lobby and they’ve just been waiting for a Republican president to sign it,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, said. “If loose gun laws and more guns made us safer, we’d be the safest country in the world. Instead, we have the highest rate of gun violence of any developed nation.”
Let’s not lose focus on what the real issue here is – and that is Republican policies on guns that do not make us safer.
Featured Image via Getty Images.
