At last night's CNN Town Hall, Jake Tapper introduced Gabriel Edenbaum. "He hid in a closet until the SWAT team arrived. Gabriel has a question," he said.
"Why can a 19-year-old with mental health issues and other problems walk into a gun store and buy a gun and ammunition, when his mom called the cops on him 39 times?" Edenbaum asked.
Rep. Ted Deutch responded. "First of all, I can't imagine -- I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been for you. and you're right to ask the question. The fact is, in this case, this shooter, 39 times, law enforcement came to visit. There were disturbing, frightening social media postings. The fact is that what we need to do, and there are efforts at the state and there is federal legislation that would do it, is provide law enforcement the opportunity to get a gun violence temporary restraining order, so that if it's clear that someone might do damage, then that person's gun should be taken away from them.
Deutch said to Marco Rubio, "Let's bring up the assault weapons ban and close all those loopholes so we have a bill that keeps people safe."
Marco Rubio, who is the second-largest recipient of NRA cash, said, "It's not the loopholes. it's the problem that once you start looking at how easy it is to get around it, you would literally have to ban every semi-automatic rifle that's sold in America." (As if no rational person would want that! Instead, the crowd cheered.)
"That is a very valid point," Rubio said. "But my point is that under the law that you support, there would still be 2,000 guns that were legal that could do the exact same thing. let's talk about what --"
"I know, but --"
"This is an important discussion because now you're seeing what the debate is about the assault weapons ban. and I just ask, will you ban -- are you in favor of banning any gun that can do what the AR-15 can do? Yes or no?" Rubio said.
Deutch responded, "And the answer to the question is, do I support banning weapons that fire off 150 rounds in seven or eight minutes, weapons that are weapons of war, that serve no purpose other than killing the maximum number of people they can? You bet I am."
"And that is a very fair position to hold. And I just want you to understand, that goes well beyond the bill that's before us now," Rubio said.
"Well, then, sit with me and let's come up with something you support," Deutch said.
Ball's in your court, Marco.
