Washington Is Blue, the NRA Is Weak, But Gun Bills Still In Limbo
It took about five minutes before a gun hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee assumed a familiar cadence Tuesday morning.
Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) opened by expressing a quiet rage and dismay over how they could be talking about another mass shooting, with two taking place in the week after Durbin first announced the hearing on “Reducing Gun Violence.” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) echoed Durbin’s concern about the loss of life, but he then quickly veered into addressing the violence over the summer sparked by racial unrest and the need to increase funding for law enforcement.
The partisans on either side of the dais then recycled their traditional speeches—Democrats accusing Republicans of doing nothing, Republicans accusing Democrats of using a tragedy to further an agenda that wouldn’t have saved the lives lost anyway