Violence Policy Center Statement on Today’s Vote in the U.S. Senate
Washington, DCToday the U.S Senate defeated two proposals that would have made America safer from gun violence.
The Senate failed to pass Senator Dianne Feinsteins (D-CA) proposal to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, and it defeated Senator Chris Murphys (D-CT) amendment to expand background checks on gun sales.
Soon after 9/11, the Violence Policy Center obtained a copy of a terrorist training manual, How I Train Myself for Jihad. The pamphlet was reportedly also found in abandoned terrorist safe houses in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The pamphlet informs jihad trainees, In some countries of the World, especially the USA, firearms training is available to the general public, and that it is perfectly legal to obtain weapons such as AK-47 assault rifles. It urges would-be warriors to take advantage of those lax laws and learn firearm fighting skills, especially sniping and the use of assault rifles (
http://www.vpc.org/fact-sheets/firearms-training-for-jihad-in-america/).
In the years since 9/11, terrorists have indeed taken advantage of Americas lax gun laws: acquiring and using the military-style firearmssuch as the Sig Sauer MCX assault rifle wielded by the shooter at Pulse nightclubthat today define the gun industry.
More...
http://www.vpc.org/press/violence-policy-center-statement-on-todays-vote-in-the-u-s-senate/
ALEC/NRA/ILA right-wing apologists and Second Amendment absolutists are so ideologically driven by their obsession with all things guns that they sincerely don't care about mass murder in this country. Their only concern is that they be allowed to continue to amass arsenals of lethal weaponry so as to claim bragging rights about who has the biggest (fill in the blank).
The American public is overwhelmingly in favor of increased gun control, and the right-wing gun lobby is on the losing end this fight by enabling terrorists and criminals access to deadly weapons.