GOP congressman doesn't see the 'benefit' of laws to reduce gun violence
Rep. Don Bacon supports the NRA’s fringe position instead of millions of Americans.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told voters in his state he saw no need for enhanced background checks for gun purchases, despite widespread calls for them in the wake of the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
“I don’t see the goodness of putting all of this government red tape on ya, when you go back and this would have had a negligible impact on the crimes that we’ve had,” Dayton said at a town hall on Wednesday. “So the cost versus benefit, I don’t see it.”
Bacon’s statement echoed other Republican leaders like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has opposed background check legislation passed in the House by Democrats.
The bills have support from hundreds of mayors across the country, as well as from police chiefs who called on Congress for the bills to be made law.
Bacon received $3,500 from the NRA in his 2018 campaign, one of the embattled organization’s few political victories last year. The election was close, with Bacon receiving 51% of the vote to defeat his Democratic challenger by only 2 percentage points.
“Gun control is a recipe for only the criminals having guns. I am a member of the NRA and the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association and proud of it,” Bacon said in 2016 when campaigning.
For a relatively small sum, the NRA’s “cost versus benefit” worked out in the organization’s favor.
Bacon made clear he is willing to oppose voters’ overwhelming support for gun legislation and instead backs the gun organization’s extremist position.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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