Lindsey Graham says he'd be ready to 'pick off' gangs with his AR-15


Lindsey Graham says he’d be ready to ‘pick off’ marauding gangs with his AR-15 in the event of natural disaster

  • Lindsey Graham defended the right to own assault weapons 
  • ‘I own an AR-15. … I can defend myself,’ he told Fox News Sunday
  • Debate over banning assault weapons renewed after Atlanta, Boulder shootings 
  • Graham said any attempted ban on assault weapons ‘won’t get 50 votes, much less 60’ on the Senate floor
  • Some lawmakers pushing to pass universal background checks first 

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham defended the right to own assault weapons, declaring he had an AR-15 and he was prepared to use it to defend his home.

Graham, a conservative Republican who was a close ally of Donald Trump on Capitol Hill, said owned the deadly weapon to fight off any gangs that would come to his neighborhood in the event of a natural disaster in his home state.

‘I own an AR-15. If there’s a natural disaster in South Carolina where the cops can’t protect my neighborhood, my house will be the last one that the gang will come to because I can defend myself. You don’t have to have an AR-15, but if you have one lawfully, I think you should be allowed to keep it,’ he told Chris Wallace on ‘Fox News Sunday.’

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham defended the right to own assault weapons, declaring he had an AR-15 and he was prepared to use it

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham defended the right to own assault weapons, declaring he had an AR-15 and he was prepared to use it

Graham made his declaration after Wallace asked him debate over banning assault weapons, particularly large capacity magazines, which studies show contribute to mass shootings. 

The gun rights debate returned to the national forefront after killings in Atlanta, where eight died including six Asian women, and Boulder, Colorado, where ten people were left dead. 

Progressives are renewing their call for an assault weapons ban in the wake of the latest mass shootings. 

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, called on Congress to pass legislation improving background checks.  The House, earlier this month, approved universal background checks, but that legislation is not expected to pass in the Senate.

Biden, who is weighing using an executive order to deal with gun violence, also expressed confidence on Sunday that reasonable legislation could pass. He pointed out the only assault weapons ban happened when he was in the Senate.

‘I’m the only one who has ever got them passed, man,’ Biden said. ‘The only gun control legislation that’s ever passed is mine. It’s going to happen again.’ 

Congress narrowly passed an assault weapons ban in 1994 when Biden was a senator, but it expired in 2005.  Attempts to renew it in Congress have been unsuccessful.

Graham said any attempted ban on assault weapons ‘won’t get 50 votes, much less 60’ on the Senate floor. In the Senate, 60 votes are needed to move legislation from debate to final passage.   

Graham said the shootings ‘have a lot to do with mental health.’ 

‘Count me in for addressing that issue. Red flag laws exist in 19 states. There are some things we can do. But at the end of the day, if you think an assault weapons ban is what the country needs, bring it to the floor of the United States Senate and vote on it. I welcome that debate,’ he said. 

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said the best way to get the GOP to open up to gun control legislation is passing a background check bill first

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said the best way to get the GOP to open up to gun control legislation is passing a background check bill first

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a close Biden ally, said the Senate is more likely to get a bill passed on tightening background checks.

‘Right now our best chance to get something passed is universal background checks,’ Murphy told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ host Chuck Todd on Sunday morning.

He said that is a first step that could lead to additional legislation.

‘Once we convince Republicans that the sky doesn’t fall for you politically when you support a reasonable expansion of something like background checks, you can move onto other interventions,’ Murphy said. 

He expressed hope the politics around gun ownership were changing.

‘I think the politics have shifted dramatically,’ Murphy said. ‘I’ve gotten calls from GOP in Senate who don’t want to fight this fight any longer because the NRA’s authority is fading, the anti-gun violence movement’s impact is increasing. I think we have a chance.’ 

Murphy has proposed legislation, the Background Check Expansion Act, that would extend a background check requirement to unlicensed and private firearm sellers before selling a firearm. Current federal law doesn’t require unlicensed sellers to do background checks.

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