President Donald Trump shocked a bipartisan group of lawmakers Wednesday when he called for a series of changes to current gun laws, including comprehensive background checks and age limits for buyers.
And Florida Congressman Darren Soto told Cheddar that, if changes aren’t made, this will be a major issue come midterms.
“This will absolutely be one of those litmus test issues that can really swing a lot of voters,” he said in an interview before the president’s comments. “We’re talking about our young people keeping up their energy until the November elections.”
The latest developments come two weeks after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Survivors have sparked a nationwide #NeverAgain movement and even discussed gun control with high-profile Republican legislators, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and the commander-in-chief.
Soto said this isn’t the first time one group has been able to effect change at the ballot. He pointed to Democrat Margaret Good, who won Florida’s 72nd House district, a usually Republican area, the day before the Parkland, Fla., shooting.
“We saw that in the special election recently in Florida, that Republican women, suburban women who were independent, have come out in favor of Democrats,” he said. “They see that the Republicans aren’t willing to do anything to help protect our kids.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/rep-darren-soto-speaker-ryans-gun-control-comments-a-real-shame).
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The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act is expected to pass the Democrat-controlled House, where it passed before in 2019 and 2020, but could face a tougher battle in the split Senate.
Rep. Mark Takano (D- Calif. 41st District) discusses the need to pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act especially in the wake of the shooting deaths of eight people in Atlanta area spas, six of them being women of Asian descent.
U.S. health officials are relaxing social distancing recommendations for schools, now saying students can sit as close as 3 feet to each other in classrooms.
The Federal Reserve says it will restore capital requirements for large banks that were relaxed as part of the Fed’s efforts to shore up the financial system during the early days of the pandemic.
Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash. 10th District), one of four Korean Americans to be elected to Congress, talked about the need for urgency and accountability following the killing of eight people, including six Asian women.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to 770,000, a sign that layoffs remain high even as much of the U.S. economy is steadily recovering from the coronavirus recession.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell once again doubled down on the easy money policies that have defined the central bank's response to the pandemic-fueled economic downturn.
Stop AAPI Hate co-founder Cynthia Choi joined Cheddar to discuss anti-Asian hate crime reporting and what Americans can do to combat incidents of racial discrimination against Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.
