NY Times:
‘The G.O.P. Has Gone Even Farther Right Than I Expected’: Three Writers Talk About the Midterms
[LIZ] SMITH: We need to be screaming from the rooftops about what the Republicans in Congress are doing. They voted against the American Rescue Plan (then took credit for the checks that went to American households), mostly voted against infrastructure (then took credit for projects in their districts), mostly voted against capping the price of insulin, voted against stopping oil companies from price gouging, mostly voted against a bill that would include importing baby formula.
Why? Because they want to impose as much misery as possible on the American people so that voters blame Biden and vote Republican in November. It’s really cynical, dark stuff. And then when they win, they want to criminalize abortions and ensure that we never have free and fair elections again. That’s my rant.
Carl Hulse/NY times:
Why Republicans Won’t Budge on Guns
Polls show that the overwhelming majority of Americans support some restrictions on firearms, but G.O.P. lawmakers fear they would pay a steep political price for embracing them.
The calculation behind Republicans’ steadfast opposition to any new gun regulations — even in the face of the kind of unthinkable massacre that occurred Tuesday at an elementary school in Texas — is a fairly simple one for Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota.
Asked Wednesday what the reaction would be from voters back home if he were to support any significant form of gun control, the first-term Republican had a straightforward answer: “Most would probably throw me out of office,” he said.
His response helps explain why Republicans have resisted proposals such as the one for universal background checks for gun buyers, despite remarkably broad support from the public for such plans — support that can reach up to 90 percent nationwide in some cases.
The reality is that that 90 percent figure probably includes some Republicans who are open to new laws, but would not clamor for them or punish a lawmaker for failing to back them, and the 10 percent opposed reflect the sentiments of the G.O.P. base, which decides primary contests and is zealous in its devotion to gun rights.
Kara Voght/Rolling Stone:
Chris Murphy Has Seen the Aftermath of a School Massacre. He Wonders if America Should Too
“Would people be moved to action if they saw what a kid looked like after, you know, 12 or 15 bullets went through their body?”
Chris Murphy has seen the photographs of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The Connecticut senator is one of the few people who have. The public has been spared the images of the “unthinkable, grisly, horrific scenes,” he says, so shocking that the first responders who first entered the classrooms required as much counseling as the parents who lost their children.
“I sometimes wonder what would happen if the photos from inside these scenes became public,” Murphy mused on Wednesday morning. “Would people be moved to action if they saw what a kid looked like after, you know, 12 or 15 bullets went through their body?”
Murphy doesn’t pretend to know what unfolded at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where at least 19 children and two teachers were murdered on Tuesday afternoon. Nor will he venture to imagine the scene at the nearby civic center, where loved ones were either reunited with their children or shattered by the news they never would be.
But at the Newtown firehouse on December 14, 2012, he’d huddled with the families who weren’t spared the horror of learning their children had been among the 20 killed. The Uvalde gunman used an AR-15 type rifle, just as the Sandy Hook shooter had. So Murphy isn’t sparing anyone what’s emerging from Uvalde, never shying away from the heartbreaking details as he elevates reporting from the scene. “Imagine being 9 years old, and watching your friend get shot in the nose and collapse dead in front of you,” he tweeted, sharing a New York Times dispatch on Tuesday night.
Nicholas Kristof/NY Times:
These Gun Reforms Could Save 15,000 Lives. We Can Achieve Them.
So what’s a way forward? This will be painful for many of my fellow liberals, but I suggest that we work harder to engage centrists, talk about “gun safety” rather than “gun control,” and jump into the weeds. Social scientists suggest “complexifying” an issue to reduce polarization, and, sure enough, I find that I can (sometimes) have productive conversations with gun enthusiasts if we focus on technocratic details.
For example, consider the minimum age to buy or possess a gun. The suspects in both the Texas and the Buffalo shootings were only 18, and that’s not a surprise. Americans ages 18 to 20 account for 4 percent of the population but 17 percent of those known to have committed a murder.
In Wyoming, one of the most pro-gun states in America, the minimum age to buy a handgun is 21. Overall, one-third of states limit purchase of a handgun to those 21 or older, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
If we say that teenagers can’t buy a beer, isn’t it worth having a conversation about whether they should be able to buy Glock 19 handguns and AR-15-style rifles?
Politico:
Twenty former House Republicans are imploring current GOP lawmakers, including Kevin McCarthy, to comply with the Jan. 6 committee's subpoenas.
It's going to fall on deaf ears -- but it's a striking display from one time colleagues.
In a letter first obtained by POLITICO, 20 former House Republicans are urging Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and four other conference members to comply with subpoenas issued by the Jan. 6 select committee, describing the probe as an important attempt to defend American institutions.
“We recognize it is rare for a congressional investigative body to subpoena sitting lawmakers. We also recognize that the subject of this inquiry is unprecedented in American history,” the former House members wrote to McCarthy and Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). “A full and honest accounting of the attack and its causes is critical to preventing future assaults on the rule of law and American institutions — and ensuring that we all can move forward.”
Politico:
New poll shows huge support for gun restrictions
Here’s a rundown of what we found:
- Requiring background checks on all gun sales: Eighty-eight percent strongly or somewhat support; 8% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval: +80
- Creating a national database with info about each gun sale: Seventy-five percent strongly or somewhat support; 18% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval: +57
- Banning assault-style weapons: Sixty-seven percent strongly or somewhat support; 25% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval: +42
- Preventing sales of all firearms to people reported as dangerous to law enforcement by a mental health provider: Eighty-four percent strongly or somewhat support; 9% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval: +75
- Making private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks: Eighty-one percent strongly or somewhat support; 11% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval: +70
- Requiring all gun owners to store their guns in a safe storage unit: Seventy-seven percent strongly or somewhat support; 15% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval: +62
BUT, voters also support a proposal that’s been floated by many advocates of gun rights:
- Equipping teachers and school staff with concealed firearms to respond in the event of a school shooting: Fifty-four percent strongly or somewhat support; 34% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval: +20
Reuters:
Americans prefer Democrats' position on abortion to Republicans' - Reuters/Ipsos poll
The survey, conducted May 16-23, showed deep misgivings among the American public as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to reveal a decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established the right to abortion access nationwide. read more
It's a potential bright spot for Democrats heading into the Nov. 8 midterm elections, when Republicans are broadly favored to win a majority of at least one chamber in Congress. President Joe Biden's popularity is at the lowest point of his term and concerns about the economy and surging inflation are taking a heavy toll on Democratic candidates.
Of 4,409 adult respondents in the poll, 34% said Democrats had better plans for abortion policy, compared to 26% who picked the Republican Party. The rest of respondents picked neither party or said they didn't know which was better.
Just 58% of Republicans said their own party has the better plan on abortion, compared with 71% of Democrats who sided with their party.
Akela Lacy/The Intercept:
COPS DIDN’T STOP THE UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING
And they might have made it even worse.
The Associated Press reported Thursday morning that parents urged police on the scene to follow the shooter into the school after seeing him rush inside with his rifle. When they didn’t, some parents attempted to enter themselves, but the police stopped them. A video from the scene shows one cop pinning a person to the ground while another brandishes a stun gun. One of the children who survived told local news station KENS 5 that an officer instructed them to yell “help” if they needed it — and one of the kids who did was discovered and killed by the shooter.
As the number of school resource officers has ballooned over the last two decades, so has the number of school shootings. There is no evidence that police have the ability to stop these shootings from happening. “The idea that a standard armed school police officer is gonna stop someone in that situation has proven not to be true, time and time again,” said Alex Vitale, a sociologist at the City University of New York and the author of “The End of Policing,” who noted that police and security guards are often the first casualties in mass shooting events.