Sen. John Thune (R-SD) spoke about AR-15s and how they are a legitimate need in South Dakota because they are used to “shoot prairie dogs and type of varmints.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) went to the ole ‘thoughts and prayers” playbook and alluded to putting prayer back in schools as a way to combat shootings.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) spoke about how privileged her fellow representatives should feel being protected by armed guards, and children should share that same benefit. (because that won’t affect their mental health or anything).

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Rep. Greene called for repealing the “Gun-Free School Zones Act” passed in 1990, which imposes criminal penalties for possessing or discharging a firearm in a school zone. Republicans have made a push for more teachers to be armed. For example, an Ohio law will only require teachers to have 24 hours of training before bringing a firearm to class. So, the solution here is to have more people with guns.

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Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) wants to repurpose unspent COVID relief funds to harden schools. Texas already had school hardening laws on the books, and that still didn’t stop the massing shooting from happening. Also, why is the picture of children doing shooter drills and “hiding behind doors” accepted as an absolute? Again, mental health.

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House Republican Whip Steve Scalise compared gun control measures to how leaders reacted to the September 11 terrorist attack. “And airplanes were used that day as the weapon to kill thousands of people and to inflict terror on our country. There wasn’t a conversation about banning airplanes,” Scalise remarked.

We stopped air travel for the entire country that day, created departments like Homeland Security and the TSA, and reinforced cockpit doors. It’s not that we saw airplanes as a problem – we just took steps to make it harder for someone to hurt passengers and use them as a weapon. So, this gun conversation is not to make it so legal gun owners have their guns taken away, but to make it harder for mass shootings to happen. These Republican lawmakers know this, but are beholden to the gun lobbyists who send their campaigns money.

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