Former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said a string of mass shootings in recent months has become an embarrassment to the country.
“Back when Newtown happened, we couldn’t find common ground with the other side. … And, hopefully, there’s some common ground to be found. I know that Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) has been working on this across the aisle, trying to come to some agreement,” Boehner said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday in reference to what he’d like to see from Republicans in terms of gun legislation.
“Hopefully, they will find some common ground, because … frankly, it’s heartbreaking,” he added. “I think it’s embarrassing our country to the rest of the world. And we have got to find a way to deal with this problem.”
Mass shootings in cities like Atlanta and Indianapolis this year have renewed calls from Democrats and gun control activists for Congress to pass meaningful reform legislation.
President Biden earlier this month stated his support for an assault weapons ban and called on both chambers of Congress to act.
“There’s no reason someone needs a weapon of war with 100 rounds, 100 bullets, that can be fired from that weapon. Nobody needs that, nobody needs that,” Biden said during a speech from the Rose Garden. “For the 10 years we had it done, the number of mass shootings actually went down. Even law enforcement officials have told me and told other champions of this legislation they sometimes feel outgunned by assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”
Boehner, who led a Republican caucus during former President Barack Obama’s administration that resisted gun control measures, has made several media appearances in the past week as he promotes his new book “On The House.”
“So, those in power now are going to have to figure out what can be done,” the former Speaker said on CNN about Republican leadership in Congress today. “It’s not about what everybody wants. It’s a matter of what can be accomplished in a bipartisan way.”