Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz accused Democrats on Tuesday of playing “ridiculous theater” in their legislative proposals following mass shootings.
“Every time there’s a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders,” Cruz said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. Congress scheduled the committee hearing after the mass fatal shootings at Atlanta massage parlors March 16 and a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, according to The Hill.
“What happens in this committee after every mass shooting is Democrats propose taking away guns from law-abiding citizens, because that’s their political objective,” Cruz continued. “But what they propose, not only does it not reduce crime, it makes it worse.” (RELATED: Biden Calls On Congress To Immediately Pass Two New Gun Control Bills And Ban ‘Assault Weapons’ — ‘I Don’t Need Another Minute’)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during gun violence hearing:
“Every time there’s a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater … Democrats propose taking away guns from law-abiding citizens … it makes it worse.” pic.twitter.com/yXUHsiOPhq
— The Recount (@therecount) March 23, 2021
“Inaction by this Congress makes us complicit. Now’s the time for action … real action,” Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the panel leader, remarked during the hearing. The senator said that with a president committed to passing gun reform “this time feels different, the dawn of a new era completely committed to gun violence prevention.”
Blumenthal also took a swipe at Republicans by accusing them of failing to propose adequate legislative measures to address mass shootings.
“Thoughts and prayers is all we have heard from my colleagues on the other side,” Blumenthal stated.
“The senator from Connecticut knows that is false, and he knows that’s false because Sen. Grassley and I together introduced legislation, Grassley-Cruz, targeted at violent criminals, targeted at felons, targeted at fugitives, targeted at those with serious mental disease to stop them from getting firearms, to put them in prison when they try to illegally buy guns,” Cruz fired back. Cruz was citing the Grassley-Cruz amendment, otherwise known as the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act, which was reintroduced in 2019.
Earlier Tuesday, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass common sense gun control measures.
“We can ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines in this country once again,” Biden stated.
In addition, prior to Biden’s remarks, former President Barack Obama issued a statement urging “those with the power to fight this epidemic of gun violence to do so.”
A once-in-a-century pandemic cannot be the only thing that slows mass shootings in this country. It’s time for leaders everywhere to listen to the American people when they say enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/7MEJ87Is3E
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 23, 2021
On Tuesday, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, the suspect in the Boulder, Colorado, mass shooting, was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.