14 DAY TRIAL // “Shame” is the word of the day, a word used both by president Obama and a survivor of the Tucson 2011 shooting in which Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) has been severely wounded.
The reactions come as the Senate throws out an amendment on gun control that would have imposed more thorough background checks before allowing gun ownership.
“Shame on you!,” said Patricia Maisch of Tucson after hearing the Senate's ruling.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Maisch helped put a stop to the Tucson spree, contributing to pinning down the attacker.
As we also reported, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly have been lobbying for mental health records to be included in the mandatory background checks that precede gun purchases.
Giffords's assailant killed six people and wounded 19 others in Tucson in 2011, buying a weapon even as his mental issues had got him kicked out of college. The lawmaker was shot in the head and has incurred serious wounds.
The stricter background checks were supported by four Republican senators and only five Democrats were against the measure. Senator John McCain also voted to make the mental fitness checks mandatory.
The proposal was shot down 54-46, with 60 votes needed to pass it. The decision has prompted backlash from president Obama, who is vocally supporting the amendment.
“The gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. [Today] was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” he says in a press conference.
“I see this as just round one,” the president expresses.
“Anyone who thinks this is going away is sorely mistaken. [...] If we don't change the laws, there's going to be another shooting. [...] Maybe then people will wake up,” adds Democrat Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who has met with the Newtown victims' families.