McConnell receives criticism following response to Texas mass shooting

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Mitch McConnell has drawn the ire of many since yesterday’s shooting in Texas. His name has been mentioned by athletes, politicians, celebrities, and more.

Before a big game in the Western Conference Finals, NBA head coach Steve Kerr didn’t want to talk about basketball and instead name-dropped Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell.

“I ask you, Mitch McConnell,” Kerr said. “All of you Senators who refuse to do anything about the violence, school shootings, supermarket shootings, I ask you, are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers?”

McConnell and other Republicans have been accused by many, including Kerr, for holding up gun control bills.

“There’s 50 senators right now who refuse to vote on H.R. 8, which is a background check rule that the house passed a couple years ago,” Kerr continued. “It’s been sitting there for two years.”

H.R. 8, known as the Bipartisan Background Check Act, requires a background examination on all firearm sales in the country.

It was passed by the house and received by the Senate in March 2021. It was just read for the first time in the Senate on Tuesday.

However, Senate Majority Chuck Schumer said there is no imminent vote on gun safety bills after Tuesday’s shooting.

“Our country is sickened and outraged by the senseless evil that struck Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas,” McConnell said in a statement.

After the shooting, McConnell took to Twitter and said he was “horrified and heartbroken by reports of the disgusting violence directed at innocent schoolkids in Uvalde, Texas.”

He was met with thousands of replies.

McConnell has a well-documented history when it comes to gun control legislation.

After the Pulse Nightclub mass shooting in Orlando in 2016, McConnell responded to the incident stating, “Here’s the problem. Nobody wants terrorists to have guns, nobody does, but the second amendment is part of the Constitution.”

Then, after the shooting at Marshall County High School in Benton in 2018, McConnell said he didn’t think there was much they could do at the federal level other than appropriate funds.

He also said that school security was the most likely way that schools can stop shootings.

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