Sherrod Brown rips Republican inaction on guns

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown attacked his Republican colleagues for failing to defy the gun lobby or pass any kind of gun control legislation.

He also called on President Donald Trump to tone down his “divisive, racist rhetoric” but stopped short of saying Trump’s language has encouraged white supremacist terrorism.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” the Democratic lawmaker said he would soon head to Dayton, Ohio, to be on the scene of the nation's second mass shooting in less than 24 hours and the third in a week.

Brown on Sunday decried the influence of the National Rifle Association, which has long been an extremely powerful political force, urging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring the chamber back from its August recess to pass legislation addressing background checks for guns.

According to The Associated Press, a gunman opened fire outside a nightlife district in Dayton early Sunday morning, killing at least nine and wounding two dozen others in less than a minute before police responded. The gunman was killed by officers responding to the attack.

While Brown said a good place for lawmakers to start in addressing gun violence would be to pass a bill on background checks, he ripped his colleagues for their opposition to reviving the assault-weapons ban, noting that historically there had been bipartisan support for such a move. The Dayton gunman apparently used an assault weapon and was carrying extra magazines.

"The fact that he had a weapon that could have — that an assault weapon that could have killed so many people with enough bullets and magazines to mow down virtually anybody along that street and in those clubs and in those buildings, just tells me that Congress is just got to act and say 'No' to the gun lobby for the first time and Mitch McConnell's life as the leader of the Senate," he said.

Brown also homed in on Trump’s rhetoric, noting that attacks on people of color have been “employed increasingly” by the president, but would not go far as former Rep. Beto O’Rourke had just minutes before in explicitly assigning blame for the shootings. While it is unclear what motivated the Dayton shooter, a gunman in El Paso, Texas, who hours earlier killed 20 people was seemingly motivated by anti-immigrant sentiments, according to various reports.

The Ohio senator contrasted Trump’s rhetoric toward people of color with that of his predecessors, expressing hope that the president “would show the leadership of either of his predecessors and stop the racist, divisive talk and start the healing process.”

“I don't know. I can't prove anything,” he said of whether Trump’s rhetoric is a motivating factor for domestic terrorists. “But I do know that we've had two presidents, the two preceding presidents who have dealt with terrible terrorism and mass shootings, tried to heal and this president doesn't. I don't — I know that white supremacists feel empowered with this president. I know that. It is clear they feel empowered when he attacks people.”

Trump denounced the El Paso attack, tweeting Saturday that it "was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice." He added: "I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people."

Brown mocked politicians who routinely offer “thoughts and prayers” after mass shootings but who have stopped short of addressing the scourge of gun violence through legislation.

“I'm just always praying and hoping for something better. I guess the thoughts and prayers that my colleagues that always stand with the NRA, I guess I hope their thoughts and prayers will go for the president to begin to heal and stop the racist, divisive talk. And I would hope some of my colleagues would, one, stand up to the gun lobby, and second, talk to the president about doing better about all of this,” he said.

"I don't know that they lack courage," he added, "but they certainly have shown no sign of standing up to the gun lobby."