The National Rifle Association (NRA) is getting flak for a tweet it sent this week following a press conference lawmakers had with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) to reintroduce legislation that would expand background checks for gun purchases.
{mosads}“Gabby Giffords: Everyone Should Have to Pass Background Check My Attacker Passed,” NRA tweeted with a link to an article on brietbart.com. The story says the man who shot Gifford’s in the head in 2011 underwent a background check to acquire the gun he used in the assault.
Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), who co-sponsored the Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2015, called NRA’s remarks pathetic.
“The NRA’s brazen response is as predictable as it is pathetic,” she said in a statement. “Any time someone steps up to offer common-sense solutions to prevent gun violence, extremists call it an attack on the Second Amendment, but any reasonable person can see that for what it is: blatant fear-mongering and desperate intimidation.”
The bill, co-authored by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Pete King (R-N.Y.) and unveiled Wednesday, would require private sellers operating at gun shows and online to perform background checks on potential buyers.
The NRA has said the expanded screenings would shift new burdens on gun owners and threaten Second Amendment rights, a charge Thompson and Rice have denounced.
“No one’s suggesting that background checks for all gun sales will eliminate gun violence overnight, but no one can deny the fact that it will help prevent violent criminals from buying guns,” Rice said in her statement responding to the NRA’s tweet.