Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) called President Donald Trump’s idea of linking gun control and immigration reform “an absolute freaking joke.”
“That’s a joke. That’s an absolute freaking joke that he’s going to tie this to the most polarizing issue happening in the United States around immigration reform. This is very clear-cut here. There are people that are getting access to guns that shouldn’t be, and the guns are high-powered. The magazines hold too many bullets,” Ryan told CNN Monday.
Later, Ryan added the president was not a “leader” but a “divider.”
A day after the Dayton and El Paso shootings, Trump tweeted about the idea of combining these two ideas.
“We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded. We can never forget them, and those many who came before them. Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!”
….this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2019
Also during the interview, the Democratic representative criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Mitch McConnell needs to get off his ass and do something. People are getting killed in the streets in America and nobody is acting. Nobody. There’s a bottleneck in the United States Senate,” he said. “The House has sent a comprehensive background check bill supported that’s by 80 to 90% of the American people. What the hell are we doing in the United States of America?”
At the end of his segment, the congressman told Trump and McConnell directly that this “issue will not go away.”
Ryan has been active on Twitter in advocating for stricter gun laws after the two mass shootings over the weekend.
On Sunday, Ryan asked the president to recall Congress back into session. In another cable interview the same day, he told MSNBC that Republicans “need to get their shit together” and “stop pandering to the NRA.”
Republicans need to get their shit together and stop pandering to the NRA. Period. pic.twitter.com/9A69qtYOXs
— Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) August 4, 2019
The presidential hopeful has retweeted other Democrats’ reactions and thanked former President Barack Obama for his statement after the shootings.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Battleground State News. Follow Zachery on Twitter.
Photo “Tim Ryan” by CNN.
[…] tweeted, “Toledo. Fck me.” Ryan, also a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, had declared on CNN on Sunday that Republicans “need to … get their shit together and stop pandering to the […]