As the country grapples with yet another mass shooting, this time in a quiet northern Chicago suburb, many Democratic lawmakers are renewing demands for stricter gun measures that they say might have prevented the tragedy.
Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III, 22, was arrested on Monday evening, hours after police say he killed six people and wounded dozens more at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. According to witnesses, Crimo was positioned on the roof of a nearby building, where he was able to target parade attendees with a rifle.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, who noted that she was Crimo’s Cub Scout leader when he was a “little boy,” said that his gun had been “legally obtained” and called on lawmakers to “reexamine” gun laws in a Tuesday interview on The Today Show.
“I think at some point, this nation needs to have a conversation about these weekly events involving the murder of dozens of people with legally obtained guns. If that’s what our laws stand for, then I think we need to reexamine the laws,” Rotering said.
HIGHLAND PARK SUSPECT ROBERT CRIMO III OBTAINED RIFLE LEGALLY, MAYOR SAYS
“[The shooting] tells us that our values are askew … we were ready to come together as a community and celebrate our nation,” Rotering continued. “[But] as a result, because of this gun culture, our nation turned its back on us.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who, along with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), led Senate negotiations on Congress’s recently enacted bipartisan gun law, said in a statement that the Highland Park shooting demonstrated the bipartisan bill ought to be “only the beginning” in tightening the country’s gun laws.
“Only in the United States are weapons, and weapons of mass destruction, so easily available to people in crisis. I’m confident that the bill that we passed a week and a half ago will save lives, it will make a difference. But it is only the beginning,” Murphy said in a video posted on Twitter. “[The shooting] is a reminder of how much more work that we have to do. We have now broken the back of the gun lobby. We now have made possible changes in our gun laws that can keep our communities safer. Today is a reminder that we still have a long road to travel.”
As I begin my annual Walk Across Connecticut today, my heart is breaking for Highland Park. pic.twitter.com/NxhBog9Y6G
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 4, 2022
President Joe Biden signed into law the bipartisan gun reform bill late last month, enacting the first substantial changes to firearms policy in decades in the wake of a slew of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 children and two teachers in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school and the killing of 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
The law includes language to incentivize states to implement red flag laws, which would make it easier for law enforcement officers to confiscate firearms and block gun purchases for individuals deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. Additionally, the law includes a provision aimed at closing the so-called boyfriend loophole by tightening background checks on gun purchases of those convicted of domestic violence.
The newly enacted law also tightened background checks on people under 21 looking to purchase a gun while providing additional funding for trauma support, school safety, and mental health programs.
While Illinois already has a statewide red flag law, the law is not widely used.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have acknowledged how difficult it was to come together on the emotionally charged and highly contentious issue. The gun legislation was enacted despite the majority of Republicans voting against the measure in both chambers, with GOP lawmakers complaining that the bill infringed on law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights.
But Democrats argue the latest mass shooting demonstrates that Congress needs to go beyond the bipartisan bill, advocating the Senate act on legislation more closely aligned with a Democratic-led package that passed the House earlier this year. That legislation would have raised the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, among other provisions.
In a speech following the Highland Park shooting, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said that lawmakers “can’t just stop” at the bipartisan gun legislation. Duckworth called on Congress to “get rid of assault weapons” and “high-capacity weapons,” as well as pass “additional commonsense reforms that wide majorities of Americans are crying out for.”
And Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) told the Washington Examiner that the need for stricter gun laws in the wake of the shooting is “so obvious” that he “can’t imagine any Democrat in the House or Senate [who] would say otherwise.” He added that Congress should immediately pass a ban on assault weapons for anyone under age 25.
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) said in an interview with the Washington Examiner that he applauds the strides Congress has taken to address mental health and push back against straw purchases. But Green believes more needs to be done to address wrongful use of legally purchased guns and the type of guns available for civilians to purchase.
“I think we do need to have serious discussions about legislation to deal with guns that are lawfully purchased that ended up in the wrong hands,” said the Houston-area congressman. “I think that dealing with mental health issues is always a good thing to do, and we’re doing that. But it may be time for us to look seriously at the types of weapons that we’re going to allow on the streets of a country,”
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Green added, “I think that this can be done and still allow hunters to use traditional weapons for hunting purposes. But I do believe that we have to do more with certain weapons that are styled to be weapons of war and could be used in someplace like Ukraine at this time.”
The Washington Examiner contacted a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), asking if the House would consider additional gun control measures when lawmakers return to Washington next week, but did not receive a response.
