U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Jr. (D. PA) has an op-ed in The Washington Post that is absolutely worth a read:
I’m a U.S. senator who has done something rare in today’s politics: I’ve changed my position on our nation’s gun laws. After doing so, I didn’t burst into flames or get run out of town. That’s how I know others can choose to do the same.
As a lifelong Pennsylvanian, I have always had an abiding respect for one of the commonwealth’s longest and proudest traditions: top-tier hunting. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians head to the woods to hunt white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and more. The practice is passed down in families from generation to generation.
I came to Washington in 2007 with the firm belief that to support and honor Pennsylvania’s deep-rooted hunting culture meant that I should not support restrictions on gun sales or increased regulations.
Then, in 2012, Sandy Hook happened.
Twenty 6- and 7-year-olds and six educators were killed in their school by a 20-year-old with an assault rifle, just before Christmas.
I will never forget the shock, horror and grief of learning that 26 families would never see their loved ones again. I was struck by the stark realization that we did not have to live like this. The idea that more than two dozen students and educators could be slaughtered in a matter of minutes because a 20-year-old had virtually unfettered access to weapons of war was too much to bear.
So I changed my position. Now it’s time for many of my colleagues in the Senate to do the same.
In his op-ed, Senator Casey calls for expanding universal background checks, “extreme-risk protection” laws and banning military style assault weapons. Casey is absolutely right and he has proven to be a strong public servant in these times.
Click here to contact your Senator and tell them to support real gun control.
By the way, the Pennsylvania GOP is already trying to get this loser to go up against Casey in 2024:
GOP leaders, donors and strategists are urging David McCormick, the former hedge fund CEO who lost by fewer than 1,000 votes to Mehmet Oz in this year’s Republican Senate contest, to run again in two years against Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.
A person familiar with McCormick’s thinking said he is already looking at the possibility.
Casey, who walloped former GOP Rep. Lou Barletta in 2018 by double digits, will be up for reelection in 2024. Though he has been a formidable opponent in the past, Republicans think the three-term senator will be vulnerable because he has become more liberal in recent years, and political headwinds have shifted rightward under President Joe Biden.
“I would absolutely encourage Dave to run,” said Rob Gleason, former chair of the state’s Republican Party, who noted that “he’s got 100 percent name ID” and is “going to have the finances” to pay for another campaign. “He would clear the field. There’d be no primary.”
In a sign of how seriously he is tending to his political future, McCormick and his wife, Dina Powell, are planning to continue living in Pennsylvania, people close to them said. Before running for the Senate, McCormick resided for years in Connecticut, where his former firm Bridgewater Associates is headquartered.