Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday called on Congress to "modernize the background check law" and "the assault weapons ban," in the wake of a school shooting in California.
Clinton told CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday afternoon, "we haven't really passed any meaningful gun safety regulation in 25 years. That was a long time ago" he signed the Brady Bill and Federal Assault Weapons Ban into law.
He added, "we know that the background check law, when it passed, passed at a time when information technology convinced Congress not to include gun show sales, and when there were no online gun sales. So, it's needed updating all this time."
Clinton continued, "when that thing passed, and I signed it, it was a big priority for me, but we had 16 Republican senators and 56 Republican House members voting for the Brady law."
He added, Democrats "never recovered" from losing control of Congress is 1994, "but there are now a number of Republicans in the House at least who worry about their suburban votes, and I think if they got any support in the House some of the senators might vote to modernize the background check law, too. I think they should do the same thing with the assault weapons ban and the ammunition limit."
Clinton concluded, "I mean, you know, we can all talk about sympathy and talk about mental health, although mental health in Americans is no worse than other major countries, but this is an opportunity for us to do something responsible, and to do it together."
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