OPINION: Uvalde school shooting demands action
NEWWhen news started to trickle out about the horrific shooting in Uvalde, I was on my way to preside on the Senate floor. On the dais, I snuck quick glances at my phone and a pit began to form in my stomach. It was happening again. Another Sandy Hook. And all the questions began to arise. How did this happen again? Why can’t we do something to stop this slaughter?
I immediately went to the Senate floor and asked my colleagues a simple question: what is the point of serving in the Senate if not to try to solve a problem as serious as this one? I begged my fellow Senators to sit down at the table with me to work out a compromise that could save lives. But before I could take my seat, the campaign had begun to try to make conservative gun owners believe my offer wasn’t sincere - that I really had a secret agenda to take people’s guns away. That isn’t true. That’s never been true. I believe thatto buy and own firearms. But I also believe that like every constitutional right, there are limits. I don't believe the Constitution protects the right of criminals or people with serious mental illness to own weapons.
And as I said on the Senate floor last week, I also acknowledge that in order to find common ground, I will need to agree to a smaller set of reforms than I would prefer. I’m willing to pass incremental change, like tightening up our background checks system and helping states pass laws to allow law enforcement to temporarily take guns away from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others.
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