Rep. Jamal Bowman calls on Biden for unilateral action on guns: ‘If he goes to the courts to fight, so be it.’

Rep. Jamal Bowman is calling on the Biden administration to issue an executive order on gun reform after last month’s mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, which left three 9-year-olds and three adults dead.

“I want the president to sign an executive order to ban assault rifles, and if he goes to the courts to fight, so be it,” Bowman, DNA, told Yahoo News on Wednesday. “The American people need to see that we’ve given up badly. And we’re fighting back. And we’re doing everything we can,” he said.

last month, Bowman faced the Republicans Inaction on gun violence in the US following a school shooting outside the House floor. “They are all cowards! They will not take any action to save the lives of our children,” he said on March 30.

Bowman says that was a viral moment, which included. Hot exchange With Rep. Thomas Massey, Republican of Kentucky, it was unplanned. “The feeling was anger, frustration, confusion, just right. [a] Lack of understanding. “Why don’t my colleagues across the street take this seriously, and react with a sense of urgency,” Bowman said.

Massey told Yahoo News that Bowman wanted to discuss a solution to the school shooting, “but when I offered a solution, he started yelling.” I gave him data when he asked for data but he shouted more than that. Bring the facts.

Massey also said there have been “hundreds of schools that allow staff to carry.” Yahoo News has asked Massey’s office for information to support this claim.

For Bowman, senseless gun violence has been a part of his life since childhood, he told Yahoo News. “My best friend when I was in college, she and her eight-month-old son [were] He was shot and killed in Connecticut. My other best friend’s mother was killed,[his friend’s]brother was killed, and his cousin was killed.”

The congressional leader was also an educator, a profession that is fighting gun violence in schools nationwide. In 1999, a year before Bowman began his teaching career in New York, 12 students and one teacher were killed. Columbine High School Massacre.

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“A few years later, Virginia Tech happened. After a few years, Six year olds in Connecticut They were killed,” Bowman said. “And we didn’t have a national day of mourning, we didn’t have a national response, we didn’t ban assault rifles, we didn’t have anything.”

After the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Democratic Sen. Joe Manch and Republican Sen. Patrick Toomey tried to introduce legislation to expand background checks for gun purchases, but the bipartisan bill failed in the Senate.

But after last year’s shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and 2 teachers were killed, Congress He approved the bilateral account Requires a strong background check for those under 21.

“After 28 years of inaction, bipartisan members of Congress came together to hear the calls of families across the country and pass legislation to address gun violence in our communities,” Biden said in a statement after Congress passed the legislation.

Bowman in 2021 at the Capitol, Mass., RK during the senior exchange Posted a holiday photo He and his family members carry guns with a note asking Santa for more bullets. Days after the school shooting In Michigan, the solution is to arm teachers with weapons, he suggested.

“More guns lead to more deaths,” Bowman replied. Bowman said teachers should not carry weapons in schools because gun control policies are more effective.

“So a national ban on assault rifles, a national red flag law, a national law making sure guns are safe and secure, national background checks, national waiting periods. There are policies that can be implemented, that will be stronger than arming teachers,” Bowman said.

In Tennessee, Three democratic leaders He joined the gun violence protests sparked by the Covenant school shooting, which calls for stricter gun laws. Two of the deputies, Black, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, were fired. Both They have since returned to where they were..

Bowman said the actions of the “Tennessee Three” were important because America only responded when forced to act.

“Abolition, suffrage, civil rights, gay rights, these were all movements that made policy changes. And we need that now more than ever, especially as we push back against the rise of far-right MAGA Republicans,” Bowman said, referring to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign slogan that came to define Trump supporters.

But some leaders say not much can be done to reduce gun violence in America. Republican Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.Standing on the steps of the Capitol following the Covenant School shooting, he said, “We’re not going to fix it. Criminals will be criminals.

As of 2011 Gun violence registryThere have been 146 mass shootings this year, more than there will be in 2023. White House press secretary Karen Jean-Pierre said it was shameful and “unacceptable” for Republicans to say there were none. it’s over.

“Our schools, our churches, our places of worship are now killing places for Americans who lost their lives last year,” Jean-Pierre said at a White House press conference on March 29.

Bowman said Americans will remain frustrated until action is taken. “This is common in the Republican Party and common to many politicians,” Bowman said. “We are paying the lives of our children and innocent people for the Second Amendment.”