Responding to gun violence, GOP moves to weaken gun laws

On Jan. 1, 2017, seven people — including three teenagers — were injured in Miami during a drive-by shooting.

The shooting became the first incident detailed in the “mass shootings” database at GunViolenceArchive.org.

Two other mass shootings — gun-related incidents in which at least four people are injured or killed — occurred on New Year’s Day and many of the days that followed in 2017, according to the archive.

The database, as of Dec. 10, contained details of 329 mass shootings in the United States in 2017, including a report on the mass shooting at the Marathon Savings Bank in Rothschild, Wisconsin, in March that left five people dead.

The database contains details of the shootings in Sutherland Springs, Texas, where 27 people died Nov. 5; in Las Vegas Oct. 1, where 59 people died and 441 were injured; and at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jan. 6, when five people died and six were injured.

But the database also contains details of shootings that perhaps were not reported beyond the local press — a July mass shooting in Little Rock, Arkansas, that left 25 injured; six people murdered in Orlando, Florida, on June 5; eight people killed in Bogue Chitto, Mississippi, in May; and nine people shot in Columbus, Ohio, on April 13.

Republican ‘cowardice’

Despite the many incidents of violence and massive numbers of casualties in 2017, Republican leadership on both the federal and state levels proposed or passed legislation that would weaken gun laws and increase the number of weapons in public places, including schools and hospitals.

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives ended the year by approving a bill that would make it easier for gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines.

“The House took action to protect our citizens’ Second Amendment rights,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in a statement. “The truth is that concealed carry laws save lives.”

The bill was a top priority for the National Rifle Association.

Democratic opponents said the measure would endanger public safety by overriding state laws that place strict limits on guns.

Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who was shot in the head in 2011, denounced the House action.

“I’m angry that when this country is begging for courage from our leaders, they are responding with cowardice,” she said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., said the measure would “hamstring law enforcement and allow dangerous criminals to walk around with hidden guns anywhere and at any time. It’s unspeakable that this is Congress’ response to the worst gun tragedies in American history.”

Esty represents Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six educators were fatally shot in 2012.

The legislation is before the Senate, sending the fight into 2018.