|
The thing is, after the Uvalde school shooting, Congress broke its standstill and enacted the biggest gun control bill in 30 years. It had funds for school security, mental health treatment, red-flag laws and closed the so-called “boyfriend loophole.”
Then, in July, the U.S. House passed an assault weapons ban. It died in the Senate for lack of support. And that was back when Democrats had majorities in both houses of Congress.
Peltola is both a moderate and a pragmatist. It affords her some fluidity on polarizing issues that is sure to drive a large segment of her base to fury several times a month.
She’s far from the only lawmaker drawing anger from gun control advocates this week. The congressional reaction to this shooting is decidedly muted.
“I’m a realist,” Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said yesterday, when asked about the possibility of passing gun legislation, according to The Washington Post.
One of the most liberal senators, Ed Markey, D-Mass., responded with a bill calling for $250 million to study gun violence.
“We know this is not a panacea,” Markey said, in a remarkable understatement.
Politically speaking, Peltola has nothing to gain by supporting an assault weapon ban now.
A good number of Alaskans love their guns and are absolutists about the Second Amendment. Peltola, as a subsistence hunter and a gun owner, has some bona fides to avoid alienating them. And the chances that meaningful gun control law could pass this Congress? Nil.
But many Alaskans can’t fathom why it should be so easy to buy an AR-15 to shoot 9-year-olds, and they want their congresswoman to take a stand against the madness.
Which brings me to the second Democratic response to Nashville that I can’t get out of my mind: that of Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y. It was really something. Take a look.
“More guns lead to more death!” he shouted outside the House Chamber yesterday. He called Republicans cowards. He refused to be silenced. “Calm down? Children are dying! Nine-year-old children.”
I don’t imagine that Bowman advanced anyone toward a legislative solution. But, given the horror at Covenant School in Nashville and the powerlessness of Congress, maybe screaming into the void is the most appropriate thing he can do.
Sorry to end the newsletter on such a dark note. Maybe I’ll have sunnier topics for you when I’m back in your inbox in two weeks.
| 
