In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, rejected lots of the proposals for gun reform, together with background checks, purple flag legal guidelines, and modifications to age restrictions, earlier than advocating for higher safety in colleges.
While Crenshaw did acknowledge updates to the background verify regulation might be useful, he stated he nonetheless doesn’t help common background checks.
“This may be something we could agree on is improving our background check system because, look, again, he went through a background check. So the problem isn’t that a red flag law could have solved this, it doesn’t seem clear that would have happened,” stated Crenshaw. “The problem is that the background check didn’t capture the full story of this person.”
Crenshaw argued common background checks could be unrealistic.
“People have to understand what universal background checks, that means that I can no longer sell a gun to my friend,” he stated, including “The people who are least likely to adhere to universal background check are the criminals who intend harm, so I again, it’s an outcome problem.”
Crenshaw stated red-flag legal guidelines ought to be up to the states, however he wouldn’t help it in Texas. “What you’re essentially trying to do with the red flag law is enforce the law before the law has been broken. And it’s a really difficult thing to do, it’s difficult to assess whether somebody is a threat,” he famous. “Now if they are such a threat that they’re threatening somebody with a weapon already, well, then they’ve already broken the law. So why do you need this other law?”
He argued altering the age restrict on shopping for a gun to 21 could be a slippery slope. “You know, what happens then when we see a 22-year-old commit an atrocity? Are we going to raise it again? And are we going to raise it again? And at a certain point we have to ask ourselves where a limiting principle is.”
The one proposal he appeared open to had nothing to do with proscribing entry to weapons. “I think what needs to change is the things that would have the most immediate and succinct effect, or tangible effect on these things. And that’s actual security at a school,” he stated.
Pressed by Bash on whether or not safety and gun reform are mutually unique to him, Crenshaw stated higher gun management “probably wouldn’t have the outcome that you’re looking for,” and would “infringe on the rights of millions,” whereas extra safety could be “fairly easy to afford.”
However, he acknowledged earlier within the interview regulation enforcement on the scene didn’t comply with protocol and assist college students. “Now, I know better than most not to necessarily judge the person who’s walking through the breach, and is in that moment, in the arena. But it does seem clear that protocols were not followed.”
“You have to put away your sense of self-preservation and go through that door. The training clearly states you might get shot, but the guy behind you might be able to get in and save innocent people. You have to put them before you. It doesn’t appear that happened here.”