Democratic Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is questioning why Lauren Boebert is even in Congress after the Republican consultant instructed mass shootings cannot be solved with laws.
The New York progressive on Wednesday excoriated Boebert a day after an 18-year-old gunman fatally shot 19 college students and two lecturers in an elementary college in Uvalde, Texas. The trade between the 2 representatives, who sit at reverse ends of the political spectrum, displays a broader debate about how the federal authorities ought to reply to mass shootings.
The gunman, who was killed by legislation enforcement, bought two military-style rifles after turning 18, the authorized age to buy lengthy weapons in Texas.
After the college capturing, the worst because the 2012 Sandy Hook bloodbath, congressional Democratshave revived their push for HR 1446, which is designed to shut background examine loopholes for personal and on-line gross sales whereas permitting extra time to scrutinize gun purchases.
The invoice, at the moment earlier than the Senate, handed the Home final 12 months on a 219-210 vote. Ocasio-Cortez voted in favor of it. Boebert voted in opposition to it.
"You can not legislate away evil," Boebert, whose district contains a lot of rural western Colorado, tweeted Wednesday.
"Why even be in Congress in the event you do not consider in doing all of your job?" responded Ocasio-Cortez. "Simply stop and let somebody who truly provides a rattling do it as a substitute of performing like a ineffective piece of furnishings when infants are shot with AR15s that we let teen boys impulse purchase earlier than they'll legally have a beer."
Comparable traces of debate have performed out elsewhere. Following the capturing, President Joe Biden expressed incredulity on the ease through which the Texas shooter was in a position to purchase weapons.
"The concept that an 18-year-old child can stroll right into a gun retailer and purchase two assault weapons—it is simply flawed," Biden mentioned in a speech.
Utah Senator Mike Lee on Wednesday questioned the effectiveness of stricter gun legal guidelines, suggesting fatherlessness and social isolation had been driving shootings.
Different Republicans have known as for elevated safety at colleges to discourage shooters. However research have forged doubt on the thought.
A 2021 examine within the Journal of the American Medical Affiliation discovered that "the information recommend no affiliation between having an armed officer and deterrence of violence" at colleges. As an alternative, the examine discovered the speed of deaths was larger in colleges with armed guards. The examine additionally identified that armed guards aren't a deterrent as a result of many college shooters are suicidal.
"The vast majority of shooters who goal colleges are college students of the college, calling into query the effectiveness of hardened safety and energetic shooter drills. As an alternative, colleges should spend money on sources to stop shootings earlier than they happen," reads a abstract of the examine.
One other 2020 examine by the Rand Company discovered "deaths that happen on college property make up a small portion of all violent deaths amongst youth aged 5-18," making it troublesome to check the effectiveness of armed guards.
Boebert echoed the thought of armed officers at colleges Wednesday in one other tweet directed at Ocasio-Cortez, saying "our colleges can have licensed armed lecturers to guard our kids from deranged maniacs who want to do them hurt."
"Ms. Defund the Police," Boebert wrote in one other tweet to Ocasio-Cortez, mocking a slogan utilized by progressives to reallocate law-enforcement funding. "Gun Free Zones have confirmed to be lethal. Let me know once you're able to do your job and successfully defend our colleges with armed safety. Let's meet and remedy this."
Newsweek has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez and Boebert for remark.
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