Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on gun violence (it was actually scheduled before the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado).
Cruz called out the Democrats over their tired and worn-out playbook:
“Every time there’s a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders".
He then went after Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal who said that “thoughts and prayers are all we have heard from my colleagues on the other side” following mass shootings, rather than specific policy proposals to address gun violence.
Cruz said that Blumenthal “knows that is false, and he knows that’s false, because Sen. [Chuck] Grassley [R-Iowa] and I together introduced legislation … targeted at violent criminals, targeted at felons, targeted at fugitives, targeted at those with serious mental disease to stop them from getting firearms and put them in prison when they try to illegally buy guns.”
The Grassley-Cruz amendment would require agencies to submit accurate records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in order to prevent people with criminal backgrounds from obtaining firearms.
Cruz then said:
“what happens in this committee after every mass shooting is Democrats propose taking away guns from law-abiding citizens, because that’s their political objective. But what they propose, not only does it not reduce crime, it makes it worse. The jurisdictions in this country with the strictest gun control have among the highest rates of crimes and murder.When you disarm law abiding citizens you make them more likely to be victims. If you want to stop these murders, go after the murderers.”