Mike Pence vows to work with ‘both parties in Congress’ to address mass shootings

Mike Pence made an impassioned appeal to end the scourge of mass shootings in America after a weekend attack in Texas left seven dead.

The vice president addressed the weekend carnage in Odessa, Texas to reporters Saturday while boarding a flight to Poland, Breitbart reports. Pence said that the Trump administration is “absolutely determined to work with leaders in both parties in Congress to take steps that we can address and confront this scourge of mass atrocity in our country.”

A bipartisan solution?

Consecutive mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio last month reinvigorated the gun debate, prompting Democrats to threaten to bring a slate of gun control bills before Congress in September, including an assault weapons ban and universal background checks — and this weekend brought a fresh tragedy in Odessa. Reacting to the shooting Saturday, Pence commended law enforcement for their courage and said that the Trump administration is deploying the “full resources” of the federal government to investigate.

“Our hearts go out to all the victims and families who had loved ones lose their lives. We commend the law enforcement in Odessa for their swift and courageous response, but at the president’s direction, we’ve deployed the full resources of the federal government,” Pence said. “They’re on site. The president spoke to the attorney general. The FBI is already assisting local law enforcement in the investigation going forward.”

Despite high passions over increasingly common mass shootings, calls for gun control have generally failed to materialize in legislation. But the sheer shock of the recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton — and now Odessa — have some wondering if it’s just a matter of time before Congress passes sweeping gun restrictions.

Indeed, Pence’s comments on bipartisan cooperation seem to reflect a new openness, shared by President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), on gun reforms that many conservatives fear could be primed for abuse, like red-flag laws, assault weapon bans, and universal background checks.

But Trump appeared to qualify his support on Saturday, the New York Post reports, when he said that background checks would not have stopped the Odessa shooter.

Meanwhile, Pence’s team is reportedly working on a bill with the Department of Justice that would expedite executions for convicted mass shooters. In Texas, one of the most punitive states when it comes to the death penalty, the El Paso shooter is facing capital punishment.

A polarizing debate

Despite an apparent softening by Trump on guns, it is hard to envision what a “bipartisan” solution would look like, given the widely diverging perspectives in play: in Pence’s camp, a law-and-order perspective brings focus on the punishment for the atrocity, a solution that won’t satisfy liberals, who want to make guns more difficult to access. Democrats have rejected a Senate background checks bill backed by Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) as too modest, while Republicans say that the Democrats’ House background checks package, which passed earlier this year, goes too far.

Indeed, the horror of the increasing rash of mass shootings in America is only underscored by Congress’s inability to respond. After each mass shooting, predictable media cycles play out: Democrats clamor for gun control and blame conservatives like Pence for offering “thoughts and prayers” instead of “doing something,” while conservatives circle the wagons and point to mental illness and cultural shifts, like a declining emphasis on morals and religion in American life. Then, invariably, the outrage fizzles out — until the next shooting.

Democrats sought to convert tragedy into political capital in August as they called on “Massacre Mitch” McConnell to end the summer recess for a vote on gun control, but he refused, according to The Hill. Now, the Odessa shooting has tensions flaring again as the recess is coming to a close after Labor Day, but it’s not clear whether it will really shift the needle as Congress turns to debating gun restrictions.

Part of the problem in passing “bipartisan” reform is a lack of clarity on what the term means. In practice, “bipartisan” gun reform — like bipartisan immigration reform — tends to mean the liberal position on an issue.

For example, Democrats often cite “common sense” proposals that most are said to agree with, but that are more ambitious than they appear. The universal background check bill, for instance, would criminalize all private gun sales and transfers.

The spirit of Pence’s message is in the right place, but tragically, bipartisan solutions remain uncertain as the gun debate continues to polarize. With the left growing ever bolder in their efforts to infringe on the Second Amendment, it’s hard to see a fair, bipartisan consensus emerging that respects the Constitution.