Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a stern condemnation of an apparent attempt by a man to harm Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday, but his remarks drew criticism from those who questioned where that same fervor was for protecting Americans from gun violence.
Mr Kavanaugh, one of the Supreme Court’s newest and most controversial members, was revealed by law enforcement to have been the target of a murder plot after a man was arrested near the justice’s Maryland home just before 2am on Wednesday.
The man was charged on Wendesday just hours after being arrested near the judge’s home with several weapons, including a firearm. He allegedly phoned authorities before his arrest and stated his intention to kill a Supreme Court justice.
The Senate’s top Republican responded to that news on Wednesday by condemning Democrats in the House for holding up a bipartisan Senate-passed bill that would boost security around Supreme Court justices’ place of living.
“House Democrats need to stop their blockade and pass this uncontroversial bill today,” declared the minority leader.
But those comments were not well-received on Twitter, especially coming from a Republican leader whose party has uniformly opposed any efforts to restrict gun ownership, including from the hands of those judged to be dangerous, for years. Even now, compromise legislation being worked on in the Senate is said to not likely include a ban or further restrictions on the assault-style weapons used in twin massacres in Texas and New York.
“Seriously @LeaderMcConnell you are feckless, a hypocrite blowfish standing on the sidelines while children get decapitated with Ar-15s. Legislation is passed in the house, voting rights, gun laws and rebuilding America, you won't even allow debate on. You are the worst of us,” tweeted comedian Christopher Titus.
Gun violence activist Cameron Kasky, a college student who started the March for Our Lives with other students at his high school after a mass shooting there in 2018, was similarly direct.
“F*** off kids are getting shot in the face,” Mr Kasky responded in a reply to Mr McConnell on Twitter.
Others made light of Republicans’ alternative suggestions for stopping school shootings, such as removing entry points to buildings.
“Maybe make sure his house only has one entry point, and enforce his maid's gun training,” tweeted Dr. Sarah Parcak, a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
New polling from Politico/Morning Consult in the wake of the twin massacres in Buffalo and Uvalde suggested last week that most Americans are distant in viewpoints from the Republican Party’s near-total opposition to restrictions on guns, including provisions like expanding background checks.
More than eight in 10 Americans believe all gun purchases should require a background check, according to the poll, while two thirds support an assault weapons ban.
