On Monday morning, CNN's Jim Sciutto and John Harwood devoted a segment to fretting that, as per the latter, the Constitution's respect for rural areas makes it unlikely that any new gun control will be passed in response to last week's mass shooting in Sacramento.
In spite of the fact that few details have emerged, Harwood played White House spokesman in listing several of President Joe Biden's proposals to restrict gun rights which have typically had little to do with the circumstances of other high-profile mass shootings.
After Sciutto recounted details of the deadly event (including that a stolen gun might have been involved), he added: "President Biden condemned the shooting and has called on Congress to strengthen gun laws at the federal level[.]" He then brought Harwood and posed: "Anytime we see this or any call for gun legislation, I have to ask you: Is there any real support or momentum for this? Or will this largely be an empty push?"
Harwood recalled President Barack Obama's failure to get new gun restrictions after saying the answer was "no":
We have seen this horrific movie before, most grievously in the Newtown incident more than 10 years ago. Barack Obama discovered then that, when you have the slaughter of school children, even that was not enough to push Congress to act. And we've got a situation where President Biden, at the beginning of his administration, took some of the regulatory steps that you could take by executive order, but they're very limited.
Harwood then lamented Biden would not be able to "make a dent" on the gun issue unless laws are passed by Congress, which could take action on things like banning "high-capacity magazines, banning assault weapons," and "making gun manufacturers liable for lawsuits[.]"
He then pointed out that opposition to gun control in rural areas would make it impossible for Senate Democrats to pass any new laws:
But there simply is not the support. Democrats, of course, as you know, only have 50 votes in the Senate -- it takes 60 to move on gun legislation -- and we have a political system that, through the Senate, magnifies the political impact of rural areas that do not share the Democrats' belief that gun regulation is a significant step toward curbing gun violence.
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Transcript follows:
CNN Newsroom
April 4, 2022
9:54 a.m. EasternJIM SCIUTTO: Right now, police are searching for multiple suspects after a mass shooting in downtown Sacramento left six people dead, 12 others injured. Police say that social media video appears to show an altercation before the shooting which took place early Sunday morning. Look at all those bullet casings there. Police now reviewing hundreds of pieces of evidence, including a stolen handgun. President Biden condemned the shooting and has called on Congress to strengthen gun laws at the federal level, at the national level. CNN senior White House correspondent John Harwood joins us. And, John, anytime we see this or any call for gun legislation, I have to ask you: Is there any real support or momentum for this? Or will this largely be an empty push?
JOHN HARWOOD: I think the answer, Jim, is no. It will be largely an empty push. We have seen this horrific movie before, most grievously in the Newtown incident more than 10 years ago. Barack Obama discovered then that, when you have the slaughter of school children, even that was not enough to push Congress to act. And we've got a situation where President Biden, at the beginning of his administration, took some of the regulatory steps that you could take by executive order, but they're very limited.
But really, to make a dent in this issue, you've got to have legislation. So, h's called on yesterday or over the weekend a ban on ghost guns, requiring background checks for all purchases, doing something about high-capacity magazines, banning assault weapons, making gun manufacturers liable for lawsuits which would be a way for people to extract money and perhaps change the behavior of the gun industry.
But there simply is not the support. Democrats, of course, as you know, only have 50 votes in the Senate -- it takes 60 to move on gun legislation -- and we have a political system that, through the Senate, magnifies the political impact of rural areas that do not share the Democrats' belief that gun regulation is a significant step toward curbing gun violence. So, I think we're in an election year where the President of the United States is going to call for this. Democrats are going to urge it. They're going to both try to motivate their voters behind that, but in the near term, it's not going to go anywhere legislatively.
SCIUTTO: Yeah, that same familiar mix of obstacles. John Harwood at the White House, thanks so much.
