Bill Clinton said Thursday that the U.S. should reinstate a ban on assault weapons that was in effect when he was president.
In an op/ed published in Time Thursday morning, the former president said applying the ban would reduce the recent dramatic spike in deaths from mass shootings.
‘The one thing that we know can reduce the number and the death tolls of mass shootings has not been done: reinstituting the ban on assault weapons and the limit on high-capacity magazines that was in effect from 1994 to 2004,’ Clinton wrote.
Clinton, who was president from 1993 to 2001, penned the op/ed a few days after two mass shootings rocked the nation over the weekend.
Former President Bill Clinton said the U.S. should reinstate the assault weapons ban that he signed when he was president. His comments come after two mass shootings rocked the nation over the weekend, resulting in 31 deaths
In an op/ed Thursday, Clinton said the ban, which was in effect from 1994-2004, was the only way to ‘reduce the number and the death tolls of mass shootings’
In the second year of his presidency, he signed the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act, which while it bumped the number of police officers and significantly increased funding for federal prisons, also included a provision that banned assault-style weapons on a federal level.
On Saturday 21-year-old alleged shooter Patrick Crusius opened fire at an El Paso, Texas Walmart, killing 22, and a little more than 12 hours later, now-deceased gunman Connor Betts, 24, began shooting on a popular street in Dayton, Ohio, killing his sister and eight others.
President Donald Trump tweeted as he was updated on the developing situations over the weekend, offering his prayers to victims and their families. When speaking to reporters on Sunday afternoon, he said more needed to be done to address the issue.
Clinton took a hit at the president in his post, calling on Trump to do more than just post to Twitter about the shootings.
Patrick Crusius, the alleged 21-year-old shooter in El Paso, opened fire on a Walmart on Saturday
Hours later, in the early morning hours of Sunday, another shooter, Connor Betts, killed nine when he opened fire on a popular street in Dayton
Clinton suggested his ban, if it were still in effective, would have likely stopped the shooters from obtaining the guns they used to carry out the massacres
‘We have talked, tweeted and delayed long enough,’ Clinton said. ‘This is about who we are as a country, what America will look like years from now, and whether our children and grandchildren will be safer and freer to grow up.’
‘We know reinstating the assault-weapons ban and the ammunition limit, and making improved background checks universal, will help,’ he continued.
Democrats called the president a ‘white nationalist’ and ‘racist,’ claiming his rhetoric contributed to creating an environment where people like the two shooters in Dayton and El Paso felt emboldened to inflict violence.
Monday, the president made televised remarks condemning hatred, and in the days since the shootings, he has expressed his openness toward more strict background checks for those looking to purchase firearms.
Clinton also took a hit at Trump’s response to the shootings, claiming ‘we have talked, tweeted and delayed long enough’
Clinton claimed in the op/ed that if his ban were still in effect, it could have prevented these two massacres and dozens of others like it in the past decade.
‘I worked hard to pass and was proud to sign the ban on these weapons of war into law, and the results were clear,’ Clinton wrote, ‘mass shooting fatalities declined while they were in effect and have risen sharply since they were allowed to lapse.’
A bill was passed in the Democrat-controlled House in February that would implement a sweeping background check law that would apply to almost all firearms purchases. Only eight Republicans voted for the bill in the House, and it will likely not be brought for a vote in the Senate with inadequate backing from the GOP.
The National Rifle Association has warned Trump that backing the bill could cost him supporters – something the president is weighing by talking to aides and Republican senators who are in favor of the bill.
The 31 deaths over the weekend have reupped calls for stricter gun control legislation, which even some Republicans are getting behind.