SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A number of Bay Area congressional representatives are calling for national action on gun control – and criticizing Republicans for opposing it – after officials said a gunman killed at least 19 children and two adults at a Texas elementary school.
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Nearly 10 years after a gunman shot and killed 20 elementary school students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, and 10 days after a white teenager allegedly killed 10 Black shoppers and workers at a Buffalo, New York grocery store in a racist attack, officials on Tuesday said a gunman killed 15 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi – a Democrat representing San Francisco – and others representing the Bay Area in Congress called for national action to prevent a rising number of mass shootings. The FBI said in a report on Monday there were more active shooter incidents – defined as one or more people "actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area" – in 2021 (61) than any other year on record.
"For too long, some in Congress have offered hollow words after these shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives," Pelosi said in a statement, calling the shooting "monstrous." "It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law."
The House passed a bill last year that would expand background checks to gun buyers on the internet and at gun shows, with five Republicans cosponsoring the legislation and three others voting for it. The Senate is yet to bring it to a vote.
The bill faces long odds of passage in the 50-50 Senate, with Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema opposing changes to the chamber’s filibuster that requires 60 members to end debate and vote on legislation.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a Silicon Valley Democrat, tweeted that his Senate colleagues must abolish the filibuster.
Retiring San Mateo Rep. Jackie Speier tweeted that she won't participate in another moment of silence for gun violence on the House floor unless Congress takes action, calling for stricter gun control measures.
Since the Sandy Hook shooting, Congress has not failed to pass substantial gun violence legislation. A number of Bay Area politicians, and others with local ties representing the state, called out Republicans for their party’s opposition to such measures.
East Bay Reps. Eric Swalwell and Barbara Lee said Tuesday's shooting was a direct consequence of Republican resistance.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the former San Francisco mayor, said in a statement that "after every mass shooting, the news recedes as Republicans refuse to budge, refuse to take any action to limit these deaths."
"Another day, another mass shooting, and more silence from the gun lobby and Republicans who refuse to allow any gun safety reforms to occur," Feinstein said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another former San Francisco mayor, tweeted Tuesday that mass shootings are "preventable" but "the GOP won't do a damn thing about it."
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican, criticized "Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens" for trying to "politicize" the shooting during an interview with reporters.
Cruz, former President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott – all Republicans – are currently scheduled to speak at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston later this week.
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