Campaign Action
More than 200 of the nation's mayors are demanding that Mitch McConnell end the August recess and bring the Senate back to vote on the two bills the House passed back in February to expand and strengthen background checks.
"Our nation can no longer wait for our federal government to take the actions necessary to prevent people who should not have access to firearms from being able to purchase them," they wrote in a letter Thursday to McConnell and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. In addition to the mayors of the latest cities to experience gun massacres, Mayor Dee Margo of El Paso and Mayor Nan Whaley of Dayton, the mayors of other cities and towns that suffered mass shootings signed on, including Orlando and Parkland, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Annapolis, Maryland.
Even Donald Trump, albeit erratically, keeps bringing up background checks as a solution he thinks should be considered. To which the NRA and, by extension, McConnell say “no.” McConnell is apparently still practicing reflection rather than action, and as the AP says "resists pressure to recall senators from the congressional recess, despite wrenching calls to 'do something' in the aftermath of the shootings."
So far, the NRA won't let him, no matter how wrenching those calls are or where they come from. So it's the nation against McConnell and the NRA and the only hope is to out-do their pressure. He's not immune to pressure and criticism—we know that from his angry reaction to the Moscow Mitch nickname. So the answer is more pressure and more public shaming.
Democratic senators returning to the chamber to demand the Senate take up the House's background check bills NOW could do that. The nation's mayors are speaking on behalf of the entire country asking for someone to just do something now. Democrats need to heed that call.
