In the wake of the killing of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas Tuesday, President Joe Biden is pushing for new gun control measures.
"I spent my career as a senator and as Vice President working to pass commonsense gun laws. We can’t and won’t prevent every tragedy. But we know they work and have a positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down," Biden falsely claimed from the White House. "For every parent, for every citizen in this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: It’s time to act. It’s time for those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget."
The ban on semiautomatic sporting rifles between 1994 and 2004 did not reduce mass shootings or crime according to data from the Department of Justice.
A 2004 Department of Justice funded study from the University of Pennsylvania Center of Criminology concluded the ban cannot be credited with a decrease in violence carried out with firearms.
"We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence, based on indicators like the percentage of gun crimes resulting in death or the share of gunfire incidents resulting in injury," the summary of a report titled "An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994-2003," states. "The ban’s impact on gun violence is likely to be small at best, and perhaps too small for reliable measurement. AWs [assault weapons] were used in no more than 8% of gun crimes even before the ban."
Meanwhile, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is leaving Washington D.C. early for the long Memorial Day weekend.
Once again: Schumer is the worst Majority Leader in modern history.
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) May 25, 2022
He moved to put votes on the schedule last night to get retweets.. then realized holding those votes would cut into his members Memorial Day plans so now has to cancel and look foolish. https://t.co/3kwg9u6kF0