Star politics: Once again, Congress takes no action after a shooting
On Tuesday, 19 children and two teachers were murdered in cold blood at a Texas elementary school. It was their last week of classes before summer vacation.
In Washington, D.C. this week, Congress did what it usually does after one of these shootings — nothing.
There were no votes this week on a U.S. House bill that would have enhanced background checks for people buying guns. There will be no votes next week, when both chambers of Congress are on vacation. When the House returns from their break, they’ll vote on a federal red flag law. No Republicans voted for it in committee. It’s unclear if it will pass the U.S. Senate.
There was a vote on a bill to increase resources for the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate hate crimes.
It was blocked.
The setting changes. The state. The number killed. Their ages, their race. The reaction stays the same.
Lawmakers send out a statement sharing their sympathy with the victims. There’s talk of “common sense” gun control. Things like background checks and red flag laws and banning assault weapons. No bills pass the senate. The next mass shooting happens.
Rinse. Repeat.
On Thursday, senators were chased down in the U.S. Capitol, asking what, if anything, they would do to lessen or prevent the next mass shooting.
Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri, is a lawmaker who is willing to cross the aisle. He’s retiring this year and was one of the key lawmakers in getting a bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year.
Peppered by questions from reporters, Blunt said he was open to the idea of a red flag law and that he’d warmed up to it over the past two or three years as more and more states implement them. These are laws, passed in 19 states, that allow authorities to seize guns from someone who is credibly deemed a threat to themselves or others.
Just as he expressed openness to a red flag law, however, he pointed out that New York has a strong red flag law and it didn’t stop a racist from shooting up a supermarket earlier this month.
Missouri’s other Republican senator, Josh Hawley, said he’s skeptical of red flag laws. When he was asked if he would support any legislation to prevent school shootings, Hawley said he would support one that enhanced penalties for federal gun crimes. He said the people who commit these kinds of crimes should be behind bars.
The shooter at the Texas school was killed by police. The shooter in Buffalo, who was arrested, wrote a manifesto before he murdered 10 people. The shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 killed himself.
Rather than measures to place restrictions on guns, Republicans have supported measures to increase security at schools, often called “hardening” our schools.
In 2018, in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Congress passed a bill to help schools hire school resource officers, increase their security measures, create anonymous tip lines and increase training for schools.
The FBI director was asked during a hearing on Wednesday about any progress they’ve made in the aftermath of the bill. He rattled off a list of ways the FBI helps local law enforcement after a shooting, saying they’re still working on preventing them.
“I hate the fact that we even have to talk about hardening our schools,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said. “But it is a reality that they have become targets.”
Both the House and Senate won’t be at the Capitol next week. They’re out for a brief summer vacation.
More from Missouri
When voters in St. Louis, Springfield and Sikeston go to the polls this fall, they’ll be asked to weigh in on a constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to raise the minimum amount Kansas City has to pay its police force, injecting voters across the state into a Kansas City issue. Now both sides are going to have to make their pitches to a statewide electorate that’s less diverse and more conservative than Kansas City.
Here are headlines from across the state:
Voters across the state will settle a KC funding fight. Will they care? Kacen Bayless and Jonathan Shorman
An audit found Clinton County missed tax payments and lacked accurate accounting, Jonathan Shorman
In aftermath of Texas shooting, Josh Hawley focuses on prosecution and sentencing, Daniel Desrochers
Missouri has a lot of lawmakers in far-right Facebook groups, Judy L. Thomas
Missouri’s GOP senate candidates want the Trump endorsement. It’s being put to the test, Daniel Desrochers
And across Kansas
Four former Kansas Democratic Party staffers told The Star they quit working for the party in part because of a toxic work environment fostered by Executive Director Ben Meers. An internal investigation corroborated at least some of their concerns. Meers is still running the party.
KS Dems director made toxic workplace, ex-employees say. Party stands by him, Katie Bernard
Embracing COVID misinformation, KS Senate says ‘national sovereignty’ is under threat, Jonathan Shorman
Kansas House Speaker, an Olathe Republican, won’t seek reelection, Katie Bernard
TV board dismisses Marshall’s effort to help parents hide LGBTQ characters from kids, Daniel Desrochers
Kansas Legislature overrides Kelly’s veto on bill blocking election law consent decrees, Katie Bernard
The latest from Kansas City
In Kansas City …
Kansas City’s faith leaders demand Congress pass gun control laws, Glenn E. Rice and Robert A. Cronkleton
Kansas City may require new buildings to go greener, Natalie Wallington and Cortlynn Stark
Early contenders are emerging for Kansas City police chief, Glenn E. Rice
Have a news tip? Send it along to ddesrochers@kcstar.com
Odds and ends
Missouri Senate Polling
An independent poll released this week found that former Gov. Eric Greitens remains the front-runner in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
Greitens led the field with 26.1% of the vote. He was trailed by U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who had 23.4% of the vote, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who had 18.9%, and U.S. Rep. Billy Long, who had 9.1%. It was conducted by the Trafalgar Group between May 16 and May 18 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9%.
Hartzler’s campaign treated it as a statistical tie, because of the margin of error.
“Eric Greitens is a damaged and disturbed candidate unfit to serve in any elected office,” Mike Hafner, Hartzler Campaign Manager, said. “This new independent poll proves there is one candidate who can beat Eric Greitens to ensure we keep this Senate seat in Republican hands and that is Vicky Hartzler.”
Last week, Billy Long said his internal polls have Greitens leading the race by quite a bit.
“I’ve said all along he can win,” Long said. “They’ve worked themselves up into a frenzy. And I think they’re not dealing in reality. Figures lie and liars figure and they’re like, ‘oh, nobody will vote for him and all the polls.’ Everything I’ve seen, he’s at the top of the heap.”
When asked if he thought whether the only thing that could stop Greitens would be Trump endorsing a different candidate, Long said he wasn’t sure.
Dems and the filibuster
Both of the major Democratic candidates running for U.S. Senate in Missouri said they would vote to eliminate the filibuster in order to pass a bill requiring universal background checks on people who buy guns, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
They would join the list of Democratic senators who have said they are willing to get rid of the filibuster — a procedural motion used so often that it takes 60 votes to pass almost any significant legislation in the U.S. Senate — either in its entirety or for specific legislation.
Earlier this year, Democrats expressed a desire to eliminate the filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema came out against eliminating it, keeping it in place at least through 2022.
One thing though — should Kunce or Valentine actually get to the Senate, Republicans may wind up in control. That could quickly change their position on the filibuster, which tends to give the minority party more power than it has in the House of Representatives, where there is no similar measure.
NATO for Sweden and Finland
Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt joined 81 of his senate colleagues in sending a letter to the Biden administration urging them to expedite Sweden and Finland’s applications into NATO.
The letter said quickly allowing the Swedes and Finns to join would send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the western alliance is strong.
“Expanding NATO to include Finland and Sweden will send a clear message to Vladimir Putin, and any leader that attempts to follow in his path, that the free world stands ready to defend its values and sovereignty,” the senators wrote. “We will also continue to support NATO’s open-door policy, which affirms that new members are welcome to the alliance.”
Missouri’s junior senator, Josh Hawley, did not sign the letter. Hawley has said he has not decided whether he supports Finland and Sweden joining NATO. In an op-ed he wrote this week arguing for American nationalism, Hawley did not take a firm position on whether the two countries should join NATO, but criticized those who did.
“Many Republicans in Congress have already lined up to support both, almost reflexively,” Hawley wrote. “Why? Perhaps because they have forgotten their foreign-policy heritage. They have traded the nationalism of Theodore Roosevelt for the globalism of Woodrow Wilson. That’s a mistake.”
Happy Friday
Happy Memorial Day Weekend. Here’s an essay by famed baseball writer Roger Angell from 2014 about aging. Here’s how to make lemonade from scratch in case you feel like flexing your homesteading abilities this weekend (and life has given you too many lemons). And here’s a song from Harry Styles’ new album.
Enjoy your weekend.
Looking for more?
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This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 10:55 PM.
