Two Congressmen Got Into a Verbal Altercation After Votes Concluded Wednesday Evening
Two Congressmen Got Into a Verbal Altercation After Votes Concluded Wednesday Evening
Plus: Republicans are in disbelief after being suspended from Twitter… again.
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Today’s Press Pass details a shouting match over gun control between two members of Congress last night, the far right losing their minds after Elon Musk’s Twitter handed down a series of suspensions this week, and Matt Gaetz employing a convicted war criminal in his office.
In the continuing wake of Monday’s mass shooting at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, two members of Congress got into a heated argument that has since gone viral.
When lawmakers began exiting the House chamber after votes concluded on Wednesday evening, Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, a Democrat, began shouting at reporters waiting in the hall outside, urging them to question Republicans about gun violence and gun control policy. Bowman was briefly joined by Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri.
Bowman’s Republican and Democratic colleagues mostly ignored him. Some ducked under the numerous phones filming his rant so as to avoid becoming part of the scene. But Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie turned out to be game for a debate, stepping out of the line of departing representatives to ask, “What are you talking about?” after Bowman described Republicans as “gutless” and a bunch of “cowards.”
Wearing his homemade national debt clock on his suit jacket and a smirk on his face, Massie then touted his bill to eliminate gun-free zones in schools and proposed arming teachers to keep kids safe. As you might guess, Bowman was having none of it.
During their exchange, each congressman occasionally turned to appeal directly to the phones raised to film them. Bowman’s staff quickly clipped the scene and posted it to his Twitter account:.
It’s important to note that reporters in the Capitol have been asking about gun violence and gun policy all week, as they do every time there is a major mass shooting. But the consensus never seems to budge: Republicans are unwilling to do anything to restrict access to firearms, and Democrats refuse to entertain the GOP’s constantly changing proposals for alternative solutions. (Recent ones include arming teachers, putting cops in schools, and providing more robust mental health supports, although it’s questionable whether the last initiative is one Republicans are actually interested in spending government money on.)
Bowman succeeded in his attempt to go viral and bring extra attention to Republican inaction on gun control. (It’s understandable that he is particularly passionate about this issue: Bowman has previously worked as a high school principal.) But while the spat picked up a lot of views online, it’s unlikely to accomplish much when it comes to actually moving the needle on federal gun policy.