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US Mass Shootings Renew Fight Over Gun Legislation

Ken Bredemeier

   Two horrific mass shootings in the United States that killed 31 people
   have set the stage for a titanic political and legislative fight in
   Washington over gun control, for decades an intractable issue that the
   country's elected leaders have often argued about but seldom reached
   consensus on.
   U.S. President Donald Trump left the nation's capital Wednesday for
   visits to the Midwest city of Dayton, Ohio, and the southwestern border
   city of El Paso, Texas, the communities where last weekend's slaughters
   played out.
   Trump said that he supported background checks for gun buyers that his
   Republican colleagues in Congress have blocked in the past, butthat he
   saw "no political appetite" for a ban on the sale of assault weapons
   like those the gunmen deployed in the country's latest carnage.
   Several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have said they want to
   outlaw the sale of the high-capacity firearms to the American public.
   Sales of some assault weapons and some high-capacity magazines were
   barred under federal law from 1994 to 2004; the ban then expired and
   was not renewed.

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