The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin debate on a package of new gun laws next Thursday, and those hearings could go well into next week, according to its chairman, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy. Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., says she’s willing to take a look at any legislation that is proposed from the Senate or the House as long as it will help stop the violence. But, she says, “I want to make sure we’re looking at the issue intelligently and from all levels.”
On Jansing & Co., Black told host Chris Jansing other issues need to be addressed. “I think we need to talk about mental illness, about the breakdown of the family, about violence, about holding people who use guns in violent actions accountable.”
Black says there hasn’t been a lot of discussion on mental health saying it’s a “knee-jerk reaction to just say let’s just take it only to the issue of how we do background checks or we prohibit people from having certain kinds of weapons.”
“I will not erode our Second Amendment Rights,” she said.
Leahy says the Judiciary Committee will vote on Senator Dianne Feinstein’s, D-Calif., legislation to ban assault weapons. But it has little chance of passing. Instead, Democrats and Republicans are meeting behind closed doors to work out a deal on a bill that would require all gun buyers to have a background check.
Sari Roth