In response to the Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Garland v. Cargill, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison released the following statement: 

“We are in a gun violence epidemic, and the only candidate at the top of the ticket with a proven record of opposing the gun lobby, passing common sense gun safety legislation, and fighting to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is President Biden. He knows that weapons of war don’t belong on our streets, and since taking office, has made historic strides to address the crisis of gun violence in our country. In spite of the obstructionism and NRA-pandering we see from Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans in Congress, President Biden and Vice President Harris will continue to fight every day to advance real solutions to save American lives.” 

President Biden is looking out for the safety of our communities by delivering on his promise of passing common-sense gun safety legislation and continuing to call on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.

White House: “The Biden-Harris Administration has announced dozens of executive actions to: keep especially dangerous weapons and repeat shooters off our streets; hold rogue gun dealers and gun traffickers accountable; provide law enforcement with the tools and resources they need to reduce gun violence; and address the root causes of gun violence.” 

NPR: “President Biden on Saturday signed into law the first major gun safety legislation passed by Congress in nearly 30 years.”

White House Fact Sheet: “Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces New Action to Implement Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Expanding Firearm Background Checks to Fight Gun Crime

[…]

“In 2022, President Biden accomplished what many had tried for the past 20 years—he succeeded in expanding background checks by signing into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”

NBC News: “Biden renews vow to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines”

ABC News: “The president said, in part, that it was again time to “ban assault weapons,” which he has called for in the past — including at this year’s State of the Union address.”

Politico: “‘We have to do more to stop gun violence; it’s ripping our communities apart — ripping the soul of this nation,’ Biden said. ‘And we have to do more to protect our schools, so they aren’t turned into prisons.’”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has vowed to roll back ALL Biden-Harris administration gun regulations, putting American lives in danger to appease his gun lobby cronies. 

Politico: “Donald Trump told National Rifle Association members on Friday that ‘no one will lay a finger on your firearms’ if he wins the presidency, vowing to roll back Biden-era gun restrictions.

“‘Every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated on my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day,’ Trump said at the NRA’s Presidential Forum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“The former president specifically said he would roll back the Biden administration’s ‘Zero-Tolerance’ policy that revokes federal licenses from firearm dealers that violate gun laws.”

Emboldened by Trump’s callousness, MAGA Republicans have been quick to dismiss the families of gun control victims by running to the NRA after mass shootings. 

In Indiana: “A slew of 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls courted gun rights activists Friday at a National Rifle Association convention in Indianapolis that took place in the wake of mass shootings in Kentucky and Tennessee in recent days.

In Indiana: “Indiana Republican lawmakers honor NRA one day after mass shooting in Louisville”

“Days before the NRA convention descends on Indianapolis and one day after a mass shooting in Louisville, Indiana’s Republican lawmakers passed a resolution honoring the National Rifle Association and its CEO, Wayne LaPierre…

“But the resolution, and especially its timing, is also getting serious scrutiny.

“It comes days after a school shooting killed three adults and three children in Nashville, Tennessee and 24 hours after five lives were lost to gunfire in at a bank in Louisville.”

In Michigan: “One day after Uvalde shooting, Michigan GOP Senators reject vote on safe gun storage”

In South Dakota: “South Dakota Public Broadcasting: Noem to speak at NRA convention days after Texas school shooting”

In Texas: “Trump, Cruz, Abbott still set to speak at NRA meeting in Houston days after Uvalde mass shooting”

In Virginia: “WTVR: Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears scheduled to speak at NRA convention in Texas”

“The convention will take place just days after 21 people, including 19 children, were killed at a Texas elementary school by a lone gunman.”

At the 2023 NRA convention: “Holcomb, Pence and Braun appeared as featured speakers for the organization’s Institute for Legislative Action Leadership Forum, the lobbying arm of the NRA, on Friday…

“[Pence] acknowledged the two recent shootings in Kentucky and Tennessee, which together killed over a dozen people, including three 9-year-old children…

“Three other governors, both current and former, addressed the crowd: former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.”

Trump repeatedly changed the federal government’s approach to gun control policies to align with the NRA’s desires. 

Washington Post: “White House softens tone on gun-control measures after Trump meets with NRA”

New York Times: “N.R.A. Gets Results on Gun Laws in One Phone Call With Trump”

“The call ended the way that Mr. LaPierre had hoped it would: with Mr. Trump espousing N.R.A. talking points in the Oval Office and warning of the radical steps he said Democrats wanted to take in violation of the Second Amendment.”

New York Times: “Conceding to N.R.A., Trump Abandons Brief Gun Control Promise”

“After the Florida high school massacre last month, Mr. Trump explicitly called on live television for raising the age limit to purchase rifles and backed 2013 legislation for near-universal background checks. He later told lawmakers that while the N.R.A. has ‘great power over you people, they have less power over me.’

“But on Monday, it was the president who seemed to knuckle under, again dramatizing the sway that the N.R.A. still maintains in Republican circles.”

Vanity Fair: “The Trump Administration Gave the NRA ‘Veto Power’ Over Its Response to the Parkland Massacre, New Book Reveals”

“In the end, of course, he did jack sh*t to get a universal background check bill passed, an about-face that can probably be attributed in part to the fact that Trump was reportedly being advised on gun control by his eldest son, who famously gets his kicks hunting endangered species and posing for photos alongside his victims. Another thing that probably played a part? Trump’s well-known fealty to the National Rifle Association, which spent more than $30 million to help get him elected in 2016. According to a new report, that money effectively bought the organization ‘veto power’ when it came to even the smallest effort to address gun violence.

“According to Taylor, then secretary of education Betsy DeVos initially supported Venable, before beginning to ‘waver’ under pressure from the White House, and eventually fully caving once Trump ‘personally got involved to insist the NRA have a say in the report.’ Venable would ultimately quit before the report was released, and not surprisingly, the whole thing was devoid of any meaningful recommendations.’”

The NRA has spent over $100 million to help elect Republicans in the last decade.  

Fortune: “For instance, in 2020, the NRA alone spent over $12 million campaigning against Biden and another $4.5 million in favor of Donald Trump.”

Yahoo Finance: “The National Rifle Association does spend a lot of money on politics, which makes it seem like a giant right-wing bogeyman. The gun-rights group spent $54 million during the 2016 election cycle, including $30 million to help Donald Trump get elected president. Among outside groups helping fund elections, it ranked 11th, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.”

Federal Election Commission: MAGA Mike Johnson has received donations from the NRA every election year since 2016.

The contrast is clear: President Biden signed the first major federal gun safety legislation in decades and is calling for an assault weapons ban, which would help reduce mass shootings. 

Northwestern University: “A federal assault weapon ban was highly effective in reducing public mass shootings, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study just published in a pre-print.” 

Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery: “Conclusion: Mass-shooting related homicides in the United States were reduced during the years of the federal assault weapons ban of 1994 to 2004.”