Shutterstock
After a gunman opened fire in a Texas church and was killed by gun-carrying parishioners, it has set off a new debate between Republicans, who praise gun laws for preventing deaths, and Democrats, who are again calling for stricter gun control.
This tragedy has politicians on each side of the aisle weighing in on gun rights after yet another church shooting brings up arguments on both sides of the debate.
On Sunday, December 29, 2019, an armed intruder interrupted morning services by opening fire on worshipers at West Freeway Church of Christ near Fort Worth, Texas.
The gunmen shot and killed two people, and injured one other before he was shot and killed by two armed people who were attending the service and intervened.
The Republican argument for the second amendment commonly points to a “good guy with a gun” saving lives in situations where an armed intruder invades any type of public building or a private home.
Further, the argument is that gun control will only leave law-abiding citizens unarmed, and that the bad guys will still find ways to obtain weapons.
Thus, gun control will leave law-abiding citizens’ unprotected.
In the aftermath of the church shooting, Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick gave credit to laws passed by the Texas legislature that allow churchgoers to carry weapons and maintain a trained security team.
“The immediate responder is the most important; the citizen responder,” Patrick said. “Because even though the chief’s brave officers were here in less than a minute…by the time they got here, the shooting was over. And that always happens, that over 50 percent of shootings, our first responders, it’s usually over when they get there, no matter how hard they try.”
Democrats believe that stricter gun control would prevent shootings from occurring in the first place. The argument is gun control will keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
The Texas gun bill that allowed churchgoers to carry weapons was signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott earlier this year.
However, former Vice President and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden criticized the law at the time.
“Dealing with firearms, it is irrational, with all due respect to the governor of Texas, irrational what they are doing,” Biden said to reporters last September 2.
“On the very day you see a mass shooting – and we’re talking about loosening access to have guns – to be able to take them into places of worship, it’s just absolutely irrational. It’s totally irrational.”
Biden continued his thoughts, saying, “Magazines that can hold multiple bullets” should be banned.
Such a ban on firearms would eliminate the majority of firearms.
