The United States continues to reel from a deadly string of mass shootings, reinvigorating calls for gun law reform in hopes of curtailing a uniquely American problem.
Most recently, a shooter entered a Boulder, Colorado grocery store where he opened fire on shoppers, killing 10 people including a police officer, using a Ruger AR-556 pistol, a modified form of the AR-15 that's been used in a number of mass shootings.
Firearms like the AR-556 were banned in Boulder until a judge ruled it unconstitutional only a week before the shooting, leading many to call on Congress to revive the assault weapons ban in the United States.
President Joe Biden said in the aftermath of the shooting:
"While we're still waiting on more information regarding the shooter, his motive, the weapons he used, the guns, the magazines, the modifications to those weapons that have apparently taken place here, I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take commonsense steps that will save lives in the future. We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again."
Republican lawmakers—many of whom enjoy massive donations from the National Rifle Association—scrambled to decry calls for an assault weapons ban, claiming this would infringe upon the Second Amendment and that mass shootings being a regular occurrence in the United States is a necessary and reasonable sacrifice.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared in a Fox News interview where he imagined a bizarre hypothetical for why he supposedly needs an assault weapon.
Watch below.
"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." -- Lindsey Graham pic.twitter.com/PYTkLzvK1J
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 28, 2021
Graham told anchor Chris Wallace:
"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."
People had no idea what he was talking about.
It shed light on the bleakness of Graham's world view.
The Senate is currently considering two House-approved gun law reform bills that would expand background checks and the time allotted to perform them, but these bills have little to no chance of passing thanks to the 60 vote threshold imposed by the Senate filibuster.
Judd Legum (@juddlegum.bsky.social)
@SenTinaSmith/X; @elonmusk/X
@smith.senate.gov/BlueSky
@elonmusk/X
@mcrs987/X
