US Senators from Pa. call for gun reform

(Harrisburg) — Pennsylvania’s senior U.S. Senator is calling for President Donald Trump to confront white nationalism following last weekend’s mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio that left a combined 31 people dead.

The El Paso police chief has said it appears likely the shooter in that incident posted a white supremacist, anti-Hispanic diatribe online before the attack.

In an address to the nation, President Trump said the country “must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy.”

Democratic Senator Bob Casey told WITF’s Smart Talk he wishes the president would condemn white nationalists in the same language he uses for immigrants.

“It sure as hell doesn’t help when you use racist, divisive language over and over again and you have the biggest megaphone in the world,” Casey said. 

Casey is also calling on the Senate Majority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, to schedule debates and votes on what Casey calls common sense gun laws, like universal background checks and limiting the size of magazines.

“We may not prevail in these, we may lose. But he should have a debate and votes on these measures, some of which are supported by 75 or 80 or 90 percent of the American people,” Casey said.

Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania tweeted this weekend that Congress should pass bipartisan legislation, such as a measure he’s co-sponsored that would expand background checks for firearms sales.

3/3 Mass shootings and violent gun crimes are tragic American problems. It is past time for Congress to take action and the Manchin-Toomey background check legislation represents an opportunity to make actual bipartisan progress to help keep Americans safe.

— Senator Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) August 5, 2019

Casey admitted the likelihood of passing gun control laws is not high but said if the country has one less El Paso in the next decade because of new laws it will be well worth it.