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Democracy Now!

End the Filibuster: Senate Can't Pass Gun Control Despite Public Support, 198 Mass Shootings in 2022

This clip is from the May 19, 2022 broadcast.

The white supremacist who shot 10 people dead in Buffalo, New York, was able to buy an assault rifle months after New York state police took him into custody for making a threat about committing violence. The gun store owner who sold the weapon says a background check showed a clean record. "Democracy Now!" looks at how background checks alone are not enough to prevent gun violence, as both mass shootings and weapons sales have skyrocketed in recent years without more legislation at the federal level. Multiple bills proposing harsher gun restrictions have been blocked by filibusters in Congress.

"Our demand is that we renew an assault weapons ban at the federal level and also that we restrict the production of high-capacity magazines or large-capacity magazines," says Kris Brown, president of Brady, one of the oldest gun violence prevention organizations in the U.S.

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