Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX) is throwing his weight behind gun control, he told Cheddar in an interview Tuesday.
“I respect Second Amendment rights and people’s rights to own a gun, to protect themselves,” he said. “At the same time, I also believe that when we talk about things like semi-automatic weapons [and] bump stocks that make guns automatic, we ought to make sure that those aren’t just out there on the streets.”
His comments came after former Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens penned a [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/opinion/john-paul-stevens-repeal-second-amendment.html) op-ed in favor of a full-blown repeal of the Second Amendment, which he called a “relic of the 18th Century.”
While that view might be extreme, there does appear to be growing demand for gun reform in the country. The sentiment was highlighted at last weekend’s March For Our Lives rallies, which drew in hundreds of thousands of people across the country. Castro said that placed palpable pressure on legislators to act.
“It’s clear that the young people are not going away...They’re going to be very persistent on this issue,” said Castro.
And plenty of activists were out in force to make sure Saturday’s marchers will stay involved through the November elections.
“There’s a group called Move San Antonio that does wonderful work all over town registering people, and they were very active at the rally,” Castro said.
Whether those efforts will turn the historically red Texas blue remains to be seen. Castro says Democrats have a chance, but it will be “an uphill battle.”
“We always rank near the bottom in terms of voter participation,” explained Castro. “Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat [Senator] since the mid-1990s, and it’s an expensive state to run in.
“But we are getting stronger. We’ve got good candidates, and I think we have a chance of breaking through.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/rep-joaquin-castro-d-tx-wants-to-see-eye-to-eye-with-all-constituents).
Amazon may have met the David to its Goliath in the epic battle for Long Island City ー provided that Gov. Cuomo doesn't stand in his way. State Sen. Michael Gianaris, who represents New York's 12th district, including Amazon's planned Long Island City outpost, said the tech giant's plan ー promising 25,000 jobs in exchange for billions in city funds ー doesn't even merit negotiation.
When President Trump addresses a joint sessions of Congress on Tuesday night ー the third such event of his presidency ー the most notable deviation from past speeches will be sitting just over his left shoulder. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now ruling over a House Democratic majority ー including a boisterous class of progressive freshmen representatives elected in part as a rebuke to the Trump presidency.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019.
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From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
What government shutdown? Friday's jobs report showed a blockbuster 304,000 jobs were added in the month of January, despite fears that the partial government shutdown would weigh on the job market. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4 percent, as more Americans rejoined the labor pool. "This economy is now really firing on all cylinders," said Steve Moore, distinguished visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation. "There's nothing negative about this."
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Feb. 1, 2019.
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Markets surged on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced it would leave interest rates unchanged. In a statement that was released following the conclusion of the Fed's quarterly, two-day meeting, the central bank said it would maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 2.25 to 2.5 percent.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019.
