This past Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tried to suggest making use of juvenile criminal background records as an additional piece to a standard background check in order to determine if a person is racist before allowing them to purchase firearms.
AOC’s statements come in the wake of an 18-year-old Hispanic male storming into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, at the end of last month and killing 19 children.
Her comments were in response to a recent bipartisan group of U.S. senators who put out a series of possible solutions that they were attempting to try and push through that included a new and more thorough review process for anyone under 21 years of age. “For buyers under 21 years of age, requires an investigative period to review juvenile and mental health records, including checks with state databases and local law enforcement,” stated the agreement.
“AOC tells me she is worried about the criminalization in the gun framework: ‘particularly, the juvenile criminalization, the expansion of background checks into juvenile records, I want to explore the implications of that and how specifically i’s designed and tailored,’” stated reporter Eric Michael Garcia via a tweet. “‘After columbine, we hired thousands of police officers into schools and while it didn’t prevent many of the mass shootings that we’ve seen now, it has increased the criminalization of teens in communities like mine.’”
“After columbine, we hired thousands of police officers into schools and while it didn’t prevent many of the mass shootings that we’ve seen now, it has increased the criminalization of teens in communities like mine.” 2/2
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) June 13, 2022
“When I asked if she was worried if the mental health aspects would increase stigmatization, she said ‘absolutely. Because what people are blaming on mental health are really deeper issues of violent misogyny and white supremacy,’” claimed AOC. “‘And while there are mental health issues attenuated like the deep isolation that we see with a lot of these folks, at the end of the day, we’re not addressing—there are some issues like the boyfriend loophole being closed … The connection between domestic violence, and masa shootings, et Cetera.’”
“Attenuated like the deep isolation that we see with a lot of these folks, at the end of the day, we’re not addressing—there are some issues like the boyfriend loophole being closed,” she says. “The connection between domestic violence, and masa shootings, et Cetera.”
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) June 13, 2022
Some of the other measures highlighted in the framework brought up by the Senators included:
- Support for State Crisis Intervention Orders
- Investment in Children and Family Mental Health Services
- Protections for Victims of Domestic Violence
- Funding for School-Based Mental Health and Supportive Services
- Funding for School Safety Resources
- Clarification of Definition of Federally Licensed Firearms Dealer
- Telehealth Investments
- Penalties for Straw Purchasing
“Today, we are announcing a commonsense, bipartisan proposal to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country,” stated the senators in a release. “Our plan increases needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill can’t purchase weapons.”