The rush to “do something” in the wake of the mass shootings in Buffalo, NY, and Uvalde, TX, has led to a bipartisan group of senators pursuing so-called “gun safety” legislation over the last several weeks. When the effort was announced, I penned a critique of the Republicans involved, noting that any compromise is simply giving Democrats the leverage to keep demanding more.
Now, we’ve got our first preview of what’s going to be in the bill in question. According to EWTN, it’s going to include a range of measures, from funding for “red flag” laws to increased background checks to funding for mental health and schools.
I want to be fair here because, in a vacuum, most of those measures are not objectionable. I believe there’s ample evidence that red flag laws are largely useless and exist to make people feel better, not actually prevent mass casualty events. We’d also need a lot more details on what “deeper checks” means.
Overall, though, if this bill truly doesn’t include any actual anti-gun policies (i.e. bans and confiscation), that makes it far more palatable, even if I think a few of the measures are ineffective. The red flag laws will apparently remain at the state level, and they can be challenged in court if necessary. I don’t really have a problem with deeper background checks either, as long as that doesn’t translate to “universal background checks” being used as a national gun registry. Gun dealers do actually need more information, including juvenile and mental health records, when selling guns.