The mayors of 70 cities that have experienced mass shootings this year called on Senate leaders to pass gun control legislation before the end of the year, but Senate Democrats have expressed doubts that the bills could come to fruition during a busy end to the year.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer is pictured with Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell.
The mayors of New York City, Chicago, and Buffalo sent a letter to Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer demanding that the Senate pass a bill that would ban most assault.
The assault weapons ban, which passed the House in July, would outlaw certain semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines, and the background check expansion act, which passed the House in March last year, would require background checks for the transfer of firearms between private (or unlicensed) individuals.
The mayors wrote that the Background Check Expansion Act would close serious loopholes in the background check system and that the assault weapons ban did not violate the Second Amendment.
In the wake of two mass shootings in Virginia and Colorado, President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress have called for an assault weapons ban to be passed quickly. Democrats don't think the Senate has enough time to pass the legislation before the year ends. The bill provides funding for communities to implement violence-intervention and mental health services, as well as prohibiting people accused of abusing their dating partners from purchasing a gun. Incentives are offered for the enactment of red flag laws. Republicans are hesitant to take on another major piece of gun legislation because it was the first major gun-control reform enacted by Congress in 30 years.
Republican mayors in two cities where mass shootings occurred last month did not sign the letter. John Suthers, the mayor of Colorado Springs, and Rick West, the mayor of Chesapeake, did not sign the letter. Lawmakers in El Paso County, Colorado, where Colorado Springs is located, have passed legislation to declare themselves "Second Amendment Sanctuaries," meaning they will legally contest, and in some cases refuse to enforce, gun restrictions imposed at the state or local levels.
The Senate doesn't have enough votes to pass an assault weapons ban.
Colorado Club Q shooting suspect Evaded red flag laws.
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