Hillary Clinton Breaks Silence On Mass Shootings, Calls On GOP To Help Pass Gun Legislation
Former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took to Twitter on Sunday to issue a call for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP to help Democrats pass gun legislation.
According to The Hill, Clinton was referring to specific, “common sense” gun safety legislation that House Democrats approved in February 2019.
The bill in reference is known as H.R.8, or the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019.
Her call for action came on the heels of two deadly mass shootings that took place in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio within a 24-hour time span that cost nearly 30 lives and dozens more wounded.
With two mass shootings in America in less than 24 hours, thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action.
The House has sent common-sense gun safety legislation to the Senate. Demand that @senatemajldr and your Republican elected officials join Democrats to pass it.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 4, 2019
The bill in question would make all gun sales and transfers subject to a universal background check, a move that has overwhelming support from Democrats and even some Republicans.
Sen. Chuck Schumer implored Sen. McConnell to cut recess short in the wake of the two tragic mass shootings in an effort to debate the bill and hopefully pass it.
Schumer hammered President Donald Trump on Sunday for his response to the shootings, calling his priorities “Un-American” and charging him with spending more time denouncing Rep. Elijah Cummings than the suspects responsible for the mass shootings.
When President @realDonaldTrump spends more time and energy denouncing Rep. Elijah Cummings and Baltimore than he does denouncing right-wing extremists who often traffic in hate and white nationalism, it shows his priorities are un-American and way off balance.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 4, 2019
The Hill reported that no comment was returned from McConnell’s office on whether or not he would consider reconvening.
The call for action coincided with reports that McConnell suffered a fractured shoulder that he injured at his home in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday.
His spokesperson, David Popp, reported that the senator called Texas and Ohio governors to “express his sympathies” in the wake of both mass shootings that resulted in dozens losing their lives.
On Clinton’s official website, a comprehensive plan to expand gun control measures includes the universal background checks and demands that the gun show and internet “loopholes” be closed.
JUST IN: Hillary Clinton calls on McConnell, GOP to help Dem lawmakers pass gun safety bill: https://t.co/bdg9mbBEso pic.twitter.com/jzkoKGlm50
— The Hill (@thehill) August 4, 2019
She also calls for action against the gun lobby, who she says are too protected and can’t be held accountable, along with revoking FFL licenses from dealers who break the law and keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
A growing number of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls slammed Trump during the Sunday talk show circuit, blaming the shootings on the president’s rhetoric and chastising him for not taking enough action on gun control measures, according to The Inquisitr.
Former Texas lawmaker and Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke, who was born in El Paso and represented the city in Congress, lead the charge against Trump on Sunday talk shows. According to CNN, O’Rourke said that the white nationalists committing these horrific events are “motivated” by Trump.
