Cheers to Roy Blunt for not caving to gun fetishists. This modest reform is a good step
Sen. Roy Blunt’s support of a national framework to address gun violence is good news, and we applaud him for it.
Blunt, a Missouri Republican, is one of 10 GOP Senators backing the measure, which is still a work in progress. If the coalition sticks together, it could provide the votes to overcome a filibuster and get something to the White House to sign.
To be clear: The bill does not address the principal cause of gun violence, which is too many guns. It’s too easy for too many people to find weapons that enable mass slaughter, and the Senate bill does little to change that.
But the measure does take small steps toward reducing the threat of the indiscriminate massacre of schoolchildren, theater patrons, worshipers, concertgoers, bar customers and hundreds of others cut down in sacrifice to America’s toxic gun culture.
The bill includes enhanced background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21. It gives states incentives to enact so-called red flag laws, which help temporarily keep murderous tools out of the hands of people facing a mental health crisis.
The proposal includes a crackdown on “straw” gun purchases, where one person illegally buys for another. It also contains protections against gun purchases by domestic abusers.
It increases funding for mental health services, a cause Blunt has pursued for a decade. “Making sure people who are experiencing a mental health crisis can get treatment before they harm themselves or others is critically important to preventing another tragedy,” Blunt said in a statement.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition that includes Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, endorsed the agreement in a statement Tuesday. “The framework released this week is an important step in the right direction,” the group said.
Naturally, gun fetishists in our region have denounced the agreement. Republican candidates seeking to replace Blunt in the Senate have denounced the deal, insisting their GOP colleagues back away from the talks.
Those candidates have offered no reasonable proposal that would stem the nation’s horrific, gun-created bloodshed. They are not moved when kids are killed. Dead fourth graders, it seems, are the price of freedom.
The bipartisan gun bill includes funds for improving school safety. We support that spending, although it is beyond tragic that students must attend schools that resemble prisons so that AR-15s can be sold like candy.
We wish Sen. Blunt and others would take a more aggressive approach to reducing the sale and possession of guns that mimic war weapons. Raising the age to purchase an AR-15 or similar gun to 21 seems reasonable; in America, it’s legal to buy an AR-15 at 18 but illegal to buy a beer. That’s wrong.
Incentivizing state-based red flag laws is a good idea, but Kansas and Missouri are unlikely to pass them. That’s sad and will lead to unnecessary carnage.
Still, we can be thankful for small steps. Blunt isn’t running for reelection, which may have contributed to his decision to support the bill but doesn’t define it. On occasion, Missouri’s senior senator can still demonstrate his skill at bipartisan problem-solving and compromise.
He has done so here. Congress should take up the bill and pass it, without delay.