Following the mass shooting incident at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade, Democrats renewed their anti-gun push that Republicans in the state have spent years fighting against.
The celebration of the Kansas City Chiefs’ overtime win in Super Bowl LVIII on February 13 was interrupted by gunfire stemming from what may have been the result of an argument between three individuals, as covered by The Dallas Express. A mother of two was killed, while at least 20 others were injured, many of whom were children.
Missouri does not have many anti-gun laws compared to nearby states such as Illinois. The state allows concealed carry of a weapon by any person 19 or older, and there is no state registry of handguns or long guns. Missouri also allows reciprocal concealed carry for residents of more than half of the United States, provided they can carry in the state they come from.
In response to the Kansas City shooting, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said during a Wednesday interview with CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer that it was “horrific to see,” especially since it coincided with the sixth anniversary of the Parkland shooting that resulted in the killing of 17 people in his state.
“I mean, this is just a horrific event, and it is exclusively, only, in this country. A lot of countries have mental health issues, but for some reason, in this country, you know, we have no will to try to limit this. It’s ‘thoughts and prayers,’ and then we move on,” Moskowitz claimed.
President Joe Biden called on Congress to enact new federal anti-gun legislation in the wake of this and another shooting earlier this week at a megachurch in Houston, which The Dallas Express covered.
“The epidemic of gun violence is ripping apart families and communities every day. Some make the news. Much of it doesn’t. But all of it is unacceptable. We have to decide who we are as a country,” Biden said.
“It is time to act. That’s where I stand. And I ask the country to stand with me. To make your voice heard in Congress so we finally act to ban assault weapons, to limit high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, keep guns out of the hands of those who have no business owning them or handling them,” he said.
However, Rep. Steve Hagel (R-MO) pushed back on the social media platform X, writing that “liberal gun grabbers” need to back off their “radical gun control agenda.”
“One good guy with a gun could have stopped the evil criminals who opened fire on the crowd immediately. Guns don’t kill people. Thugs and criminals kill people,” Hagel posted.
Research by the Pew Institute shows that gun deaths in the United States peaked in 2021, but more than 50% of the casualties reported were suicides.
The stark numbers still pale in comparison to the records set in the 1970s, when, per capita, 7.2 people out of every 100,000 died due to firearms. Suicide continues to outweigh violent deaths due to gun violence in the United States, even though murder rates increased dramatically during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Statistically, according to the Pew Research Center, the firearms that Biden is calling to proscribe —specifically military-style semi-automatic rifles with large capacity (over 30 rounds) magazines — remain insignificant in terms of firearm-related deaths (3%).
While Democrats have typically blamed guns for gun-related violence, Republicans have been expressing concern over the myriad of “mental health challenges” that have purportedly been responsible for the mounting violence in the United States.
“We as a state, we as a society need to do a better job with mental health,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022, according to ABC News. “Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge.”
