Mass shootings on minds of lawmakers considering gun legislation

Even local media seemed to focus its attention on San Bernardino on Wednesday, although an article on Savannah’s WSAV.com covered the Georgia shooting in four sentences.

Still others said they would prefer no guns at all.

Gun control supporters quickly made three arguments following the latest mass shooting Wednesday: Such violence only occurs in the United States, military assault weapons need to be banned, and expanded background checks are needed.

President Obama was briefed about the San Bernardino shooting shortly after it began. “But just because it is not an easy problem to solve, does not mean that we should not do everything that we can”. Certainly, properly assessing the mental health of gun purchasers is also a significant concern. At least 14 people were killed and 14 others were injured. There is no reason it shouldn’t be similarly hard for them to buy guns.

The four guns recovered from the suspects in Wednesday’s shootings were purchased legally, according to officials.

Although the National Rifle Association (NRA) has been vilified as somehow responsible for the actions of the killers, it is unlikely that Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were members.

Authorities have not ruled out terrorism as a motive. But if that turns out to be true, it would bring the number of Americans killed at home in jihadist attacks since 9/11 to 45. In 2013, the a year ago for which National Center for Health Statistics data is available, 33,636 Americans were killed by guns – homicide, suicide, accidental discharge – versus 33,782 fatal crashes. The fact that Farook was allegedly a devout Muslim has fueled speculation that the attack could be motivated by Islamic extremism.

That’s got to change.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Thursday confirmed that the administration had resorted to looking at existing laws to see how they could be implemented more forcefully or used for a new end. “When illegal activity is going to happen, to have a violation or misdemeanor [in your background] is not going to stop a murderer from taking someone’s life”.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump also suggested Obama was dodging the issue. Will any of the Republicans, who seemingly want Americans to be scared to death of refugees and Mexicans, address the nation’s real threats?

“We wish we could use words like “unimaginable” and “unthinkable” to describe the horror that unfolded yesterday in San Bernardino”, she said in a statement issued with her husband, Mark Kelly.

“This discussion is about what we can do to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them”, Earnest said.

Republican Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn claims his party opposes such measures because of the notion of “due process”, in the sense people shouldn’t be denied their constitutional rights simply because they’ve been placed on a list by the government.