Bill Barr just sank to a whole new low
On Thursday, we learned of another school shooting, this time in Santa Clarita, California, leaving 2 students dead and multiple people injured. NRA apologist Dana Loesch did her normal spin: if a law cannot prevent all crimes, then we shouldn’t bother having that law.
But Attorney General Bill Barr came up with something more preposterous about why we cannot have gun control laws. Barr had the audacity to point the finger at the impeachment inquiry, with a CNN headline stating, “Barr blames impeachment inquiry for derailing gun legislation efforts.” For those who don’t know, the Attorney General is the top law enforcement officer in the United States, with one of his main purposes being to supervise the Department of Justice. The DOJ includes many important federal law enforcement agencies, including but not limited to The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF.
Barr is a lying sack of shit. The impeachment inquiry had zero to do with any legislation for guns. A quick check shows that H.R.8, Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 passed the House, 240- 190, on February 27, 2019. On February 28, it was received in the Senate where, like hundreds of pieces of legislation passed by the House, it has been buried by the GOP-majority Senate.
Another House bill, H.R.1112, Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019, passed the House by a vote of 228-198, on February 28, 2019, and was received by the Senate on March 4. It, like the other bill, has been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar. Last anyone checked, the impeachment inquiry just recently began. February was before any of this noise. As usual, Barr is a corrupt ideologue and is a danger to the rule of law and justice. He should be ashamed of his abuse of the office of Attorney General.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.