Booker ‘not that hopeful’ about potential federal gun reform legislation

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Sunday said he was “not that hopeful” Congress would pass any gun reform-related legislation in the wake of a spate of mass shootings despite a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are discussing the possibility.

Booker told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd there was plenty of “common sense” reforms lawmakers could pass to address gun violence, but that the U.S. was too “out of step” to combat the crisis.

The lawmaker added the U.S. is uniquely prone to such violence because of its laxness on reform.

“Everything we’re talking about today does not happen in other countries. Just here, because we tolerate it,” Booker said. “And that’s the question: How much endurance do we have for horror and wretchedness and pain and death when we have the ability to change it?”

Last week, an 18-year-old gunman purchased an AR-15-style rifle just days before he opened fire inside a Texas elementary school, killing 19 children and two teachers.

Gun control activists have renewed calls to tighten gun laws, but Republicans have continued to push back against stronger action on guns, instead blaming a host of other issues including mental health and school security. A bipartisan group of senators formed last week to discuss what legislation, if any, they might agree upon.

Booker noted how long it can take Congress to pass laws, noting the recent law that made lynching illegal in March, about a century after it was first proposed.

But the senator said if they wanted to save lives, they would have to move faster.

“To save our children’s lives, we have to have people get off the sidelines and into the arena,” Booker said.

Todd noted that invitations were extended to “each of the Senate’s 50 Republicans” and none agreed to appear on the show.

–Updated at 11:38 a.m.