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| DAILY ALERT FOR Thursday, September 19, 2019 |
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| | | | Opposing sides in the US gun debate staked out their positions Wednesday ahead of anticipated White House firearm safety proposals, with a top lawmaker who was nearly shot dead pushing back against reforms.
Congressional Democrats have demanded swift action on issues like expanding background checks to nearly all gun sales, and passing so-called red flag laws allowing authorities to confiscate weapons from people deemed a threat to themselves or others.
President Donald Trump has waffled. Following a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas in August that left 22 people dead, Trump expressed interest in expanding background checks, but has since retreated.
One reform opponent is the number-two House Republican, Steve Scalise, a fierce gun rights advocate despite being gravely wounded in a 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice.
"Every time there's a mass shooting, I can tell you firsthand the first thing we all ought to do is pray," he told reporters. |
| | | | Since surviving a 1991 mass shooting at a Luby's in Killeen, Suzanna Gratia Hupp has lobbied for looser gun control laws that she says could have allowed her to save the 23 victims, including both of her parents.
"I reached for the gun in my purse on the floor next to me," Hupp told a congressional committee Wednesday during a hearing on the economic costs of gun violence. She recounted the moments after the killer, George Hennard, crashed his pickup into the restaurant where she was eating with her parents and opened fire. "But then I realized that a few months earlier I had made the stupidest decision of my life. My gun was 100 yards away, dutifully left in my car to obey the law because at that time in the state of Texas, carrying a handgun was illegal."
Hupp's campaign to ease restrictions on guns has spanned several decades. She won a seat in the Texas House, where she served for 10 years. On Wednesday, she told her story during a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee. |
| | | | The National Rifle Association’s executive vice president and CEO, Wayne LaPierre, has named Jason Ouimet to serve as executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). The NRA Board of Directors unanimously affirmed Ouimet's selection at its recent board meeting. |
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