House GOP Blocks Democrats’ Attempt to Establish Committee on Gun Violence Just Two Days After Madman Massacres 26 People

233 House Republicans Voted Against Helping to Solve Gun Violence in America, and the Mainstream Media Hasn’t Bothered to Report on It

Barely more than 48 hours after a mad gunman shot and killed 26 people, most of them children, praying in a rural Texas church, House Republicans Tuesday afternoon blocked Democrats’ attempt to force a vote to establish a committee to examine gun violence. That vote also comes just 37 days after the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in modern history. On October 1 another madman massacred 58 people in Las Vegas, and wounded 546 others. 

On Tuesday, all but one Republican voted to block Democrats’ attempt to force the vote. One Democrat voted against it. The vote was 233-182.

If Democrats had been successful, the House would have voted on H. Res. 367, sponsored by California Democrat Mike Thompson, to create the House Select Committee on Gun Violence Prevention. It was first introduced May 25 and has languished under Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. The bill has 159 Democratic co-sponsors, no Republican co-sponsors. 

Since the bill was introduced in May there have been at least 110 mass shootings in America, as documented by the Mass Shooting Tracker. More than 300 people have been killed in those mass shootings alone. Annually, about 33,000 people in America die as a result of gun violence.

If Congressional Republicans would allow it, a House Select Committee on Gun Violence Prevention would, according to Thompson’s bill, investigate and report on:

• the causes of mass shootings,
• methods to improve the federal firearms purchaser background check system,
• connections between access to firearms and dangerously mentally ill individuals,
• strengthening federal penalties for trafficking and straw purchasing of firearms,
• closing loopholes that allow some domestic abusers continued access to firearms,
• linkages between firearms and suicide,
• gun violence’s effect on public health,
• the correlation between state gun violence prevention laws and the incidence of gun violence,
• the importance of having reliable and accurate information on gun violence and its toll on our nation,
• the implementation of effective gun violence prevention laws in accordance with the Second Amendment to the Constitution, and
• rates of gun violence in large metropolitan areas.

“Attempts to establish a special bipartisan panel are destined to fail, given that Republicans control both chambers of Congress and have shown no willingness to debate the issue,” The Washington Post Tuesday morning reported, prior to the failed vote.

The proposal is set to be introduced Tuesday afternoon by House Democrats, who have compiled more than 30 pieces of legislation this year to combat gun violence and bolster federal funding to research and assist people with mental illness and the effects of gun violence.

Of the more than 30 bills introduced by Democrats, just four have Republican co-sponsors, according to a document compiled by Democratic aides and shared with The Washington Post.

Some responses from House Democrats:

The mainstream media has all but ignored Tuesday’s vote.

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