Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Unwell.) on Sunday called on fellow Republicans to come back to the table to seek out “reasonable solutions” to the nation’s gun epidemic, with the Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran saying raising the age limit to buy a gun is a “no-brainer.”
“As a individual that appreciates and believes within the second amendment, we now have to be those asserting reasonable solutions to gun violence,” he said in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week” following two recent mass shootings by teenagers in Texas and Latest York.
Kinzinger has previously opposed a ban on assault weapons, but on Sunday told CNN’s Dana Bash he’s “open to 1 now” ― though he appeared to lean toward implementing other safeguards first.
The congressman suggested that individuals could obtain a special license or undergo training to own a semi-automatic rifle just like the AR-15, which has turn out to be the go-to firearm for recent mass shootings. He also called for raising the age to buy a firearm from 18 to 21, declaring that the gunmen in last week’s Uvalde shooting, the Buffalo shooting and the 2018 Parkland, Florida, shooting, would have all been stopped from legally obtaining a firearm if such a law were in place.
“I believe that raising the age of gun purchase to 21 is a no brainer,” he told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl. “We just raised without really a lot as a blink the age of buying cigarettes federally to 21. I believe we want to get there eventually.”
Latest York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) last week proposed an analogous age restriction for her own state within the wake of the Buffalo shooting. Such a proposal is less complicated said than done, nevertheless, with federal courts in recent years ruling that such age limits are unconstitutional.
Kinzinger also dismissed adding more guns to colleges as a way to maintain students secure.
“If we expect that just hardening schools or reducing ― principally turning schools into military camps goes to be the reply, even when it does work, which it won’t, but even when it does, that’s not the sort of country I would like to live in, right?” he said. “I got a child that’s 4 months old now, will probably be going to high school someday. I don’t need to must have a military I.D. to examine him into the front gate of his elementary school.”
Former President Donald Trump on Friday really useful that every one schools have strong fencing, metal detectors, an on-duty police official or armed guard and a single point of entry. He also suggested eliminating “gun-free school zones” so staff may be armed. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas last week also said schools must have fewer doorways and armed law enforcement officials stationed at the doorway.
“Because the age-old saying goes, the one strategy to stop a foul guy with a gun is an excellent guy with a gun,” Trump said.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger on calls from his party to “harden” schools: “Turning schools into military camps … even when it does work, which it won’t, but even when it does, that is not the sort of country I would like to live in … they’re scared to discuss [the gun issue].” pic.twitter.com/5TfGkpuysn
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 29, 2022
Kinzinger dismissed that saying, nevertheless, declaring that the gunman in last week’s shooting was grossly outnumbered by law enforcement but still managed to kill 21 people.
“There have been 150 good guys with guns at this shooting that didn’t do anything until, principally, Border Patrol SWAT showed up,” he told CNN during an interview on “State of the Union.” “We now have got to take handle of this, man. That is insane.”
Kinzinger said he’s heard from fellow Republicans who privately agree with him on changing gun laws to curb violence, but “they won’t say it” publicly out of fear of being branded an opponent of gun rights.
“You’re going to get a bunch of attacks that say, you’re crazy, it’s my right, the Second Amendment, regardless that all of us consider within the Second Amendment. We just consider that there are reasonable things to do about it,” he said. “Can we stop all of it? No. Can we mitigate it? Actually. And we must always be doing that now.”
