Clyburn Says in ‘Lame Duck Session,’ Dems Have Pass Laws to Keep Guns Out of the Hands of People Who Should Not Have Them

Outgoing House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Democrats should use the “lame duck session” to pass legislation that would “keep these guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.”

Partial transcript as follows:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right now, I want to speak to House Majority Whip, Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn, who joins us from Santee, South Carolina, this morning. Congressman, it’s good to have you on the program. I want to start with what has happened in the past two weeks. We’ve had these three mass shootings. Back in June, you helped to push through this bipartisan investment in shoring up red flag laws and background checks, $13 billion expansion. And yet, in Virginia, both of the gun buyers legally purchased their weapons allegedly, so did the one in Colorado. What does that tell you about the efficacy of the federal law?

CLYBURN: Well, thank you very much for having me. It tells me all I need to know. And that is just because it’s legal does not make it the right thing. I tell people all the time, the institution of slavery was legal, but it was not right. Just because they purchased these weapons legally, does not mean that’s what the law ought to be, we need to change these laws. Unfortunately, I’m gonna be here in my district on Wednesday, speaking at the funeral service of one of those young football players from the University of Virginia, who died at the hands of the weapon that was, from all indications, legally purchased. That’s not the problem. Chesapeake, Virginia, that gun was purchased, legally, the morning of the event. We have to visit these laws and do what’s necessary to keep these guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. And that is what we need to do in this lame duck session. And in a bipartisan way. Let’s protect the American people from demented people and make sure that we put some safety and security in people’s when they’re shopping when you’re sitting in churches–

BRENNAN: Yeah. Well, what about that lame duck session because Democrats have control for a few more weeks. President Biden came out and said he wants to institute an assault weapons ban. An assault weapon, an AR-15 style was used in Colorado, but not in those two Virginia shootings. So is the problem that type of weapon and if that is the solution, you’re putting forward, how do you get 60 votes in the Senate?

CLYBURN: Well, I don’t know how you get 60 votes in the Senate. And that’s why I always take issue with the fact we do not control the Senate. It’s 50/50 in the Senate. And that is a problem for us. We need to sit down in a bipartisan way and say, look, what can we do to protect the public. Nobody wants to take anybody’s guns away. Your second amendment is there to protect everybody. But so is the First Amendment, but there’s not unfettered–

BRENNAN: Well, so what are you going to do in the lame duck? You just said in the lame duck, you have to take action? What does that mean? What are Democrats going to do?

CLYBURN: Well, we’ve already passed the bills in the house. We’re trying to get the Senate to act. We’ve done this on the House side. So that’s the problem. Democrats control the House, and we passed the bill. We do not control the Senate. And that’s where the filibuster is causing this problem.

BRENNAN: Right. And in the new Congress after January, is the prospect of any kind of gun reform dead on arrival, or can you pick off some votes from Kevin McCarthy’s caucus here to help move something when Democrats are in the minority?

CLYBURN: Well, you know, if you look at the results of the election, you go to California, you go to New York, even in two districts in North Carolina, when we picked up seats, we do have a more moderate electorate coming in. And we need to appeal to a sense of fundamental fairness, and what is right. I have no idea whether or not they will (unintelligible) what seems to be controlling the Republicans, but we’re gonna give it a shot.

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