Trump asks Congress to Work on Background Checks, Immigration Reform
President Trump on Monday called on lawmakers to combine gun control measures with immigration reform.
“Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform,” said Trump.
The proposal follows back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio that left 29 people dead and 53 injured. Some Democrats claim the shooters were motivated by Trump’s white nationalist rhetoric.
Trump condemned racism and white supremacy during a speech delivered later on Monday, but failed to unveil any major policy proposals.
He called for an end to the “glorification of violence” in video games and said that individuals who commit mass shootings should face the death penalty. He also suggested that an overhaul of mental health laws could help us “better identify mentally disturbed individuals.”
If Trump was really serious about gun control, complained Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), he would ask Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) to hold a vote on House-approved legislation to expand background checks.
Trump called for stronger background checks in 2018 after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, but backed down after a meeting with the NRA. This year, he threatened to veto two bills on gun control passed by the House – one that calls for universal background checks and one that extends the review period of background checks from 3 to 10 days.
In 2017, he repealed a regulation that blocked firearm sales to individuals who receive disability benefits for mental health issues.
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Gun control is an issue that has long been near and dear to Democrats’ hearts, and Trump’s suggestion to combine it with immigration reform is his latest attempt to coerce lawmakers into correcting the situation at the southern border.
Trump also knows that any combination of the two issues will be voted down by Democrats and he can point to that failure during his re-election campaign.
Unfortunately, immigration reform and gun control are both explosive topics with virtually no bipartisan consensus in Congress and it seems Trump’s advisers talked him out of repeating the suggestion to combine the two issues during his Monday speech.
Author’s Note:
Republicans have long opposed gun control – not because they don’t care about safety, but out of respect for the 2nd Amendment. If the government can deny firearms to anyone, the 2nd Amendment is in danger.
I favor extreme gun control . let them butt heads. Turn the military into missionarys of humanitarian aid. Open the borders. End abortion for any reason. Healthcare for all with priority going t0 the poor. People are poor because the rich have swindled them.
R. Pitney – I hope you favor satire – Otherwise, where did you get what you might be smoking?
oh oh and let’s buy a big dome for the sky that’ll only cost 500 quadrillion dollars and tax all those suckers who work because because… i’m sure they’re racist because they got a job and trump likes jobs so they must support him so they must be awful people. and i’ll quit my job so i can live fat and free with all the stuff the wonderful dems are going to give me. yay dems!!
People pull the trigger, not the guns. Protect our 2nd Amendment. President Trump is on the right track with mentally unstable people not owning guns. The extremely racist Liberal Dems. don’t help one bit. I’ve listen to what quite a few have to say, I always hear we hate anyone who loves America and the white people. They are racist so they call everyone else that! I don’t know what they are drinking or smoking, but they are absolutely brain dead. They want Socialism, some of them don’t know how to read to see how horrible it would be. They should go to Venezuela or think why are these people all coming to America? Oh yes to get away from their God awful countries, and move to an anti-socialism government country!!
I do NOT feel that stricter gun laws will make killers stop killing people!!! Extremely stricter laws for anyone wishing to purchase a gun would help. A Waiting period when someone does want a gun…that waiting time to be determined by each state. BUT those deranged enough… ‘Killers’ WILL find other ways to kill someone!! Being born in another country and new to the area…(my husband thought it wise that I also had protection) so when I applied for a permit I was told to come back in a couple of hours. So…we shopped until we could return for the gun. The men there told me my permit went thru quicker than ALL the American born people that made a purchase. They explained ALL the sources they had to check prior to allowing a single gun purchase and even more so for foreign born! So…stay clean and out of any trouble…..and be thankful for safety checks.