Lewis hammers GOP on guns: ‘How many more must die?’

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Wednesday hammered Republicans on Capitol Hill for their refusal to discuss gun reforms following the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history.

The civil rights icon said Republicans are essentially condoning the nation’s gun-violence pandemic by dismissing bills designed to keep firearms from the hands of violent people.

“How many more must die? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? A million? What is your blood price?” Lewis asked, speaking alongside scores of Democrats at a rally on the steps of the Capitol.

“How many more bodies will it take to wake up this Congress?”

{mosads}The national debate over gun control has erupted this week following Sunday night’s massacre in Las Vegas, where a lone gunman targeting an outdoor concert killed 58 people and injured more than 520 others.

The tragedy has prompted new calls from Democrats for tougher gun laws, including measures to expand background checks and empower federal researchers to examine gun violence as a public health issue.

Republicans have rejected those proposals, accusing Democrats of politicizing the tragedy and shifting the discussion from gun laws to mental health.

“It’s important that, as we see the dust settle and we see what was behind some of these tragedies, that mental health reform is a critical ingredient to making sure that we can try and prevent some of these things from happening in the past,” Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told reporters Tuesday, pointing to a mental health-care bill the Republicans had shepherded into law last December.

The Democrats, while supporting efforts to boost mental health care, say they’re no substitute for tougher gun laws.

Lewis on Wednesday accused Ryan and the Republicans of hypocrisy on two fronts: First, for leaning on the mental health care argument while simultaneously pushing an ObamaCare repeal bill that would scale back access to those same services; and second, for citing constitutional concerns surrounding gun reform while opposing the rights of NFL players to protest racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem.

“Don’t tell me we need mental health reform when you won’t provide every American access to mental health care,” said Lewis, cheered by gun reform activists gathered on the Capitol’s east lawn. “Don’t tell me about protecting the Second Amendment when you won’t stand up for the First Amendment.

“Don’t tell me this is about anything other than greed — greed! — money and fear.”

The Democrats are urging Ryan to form a bipartisan select committee to examine the nation’s gun-violence scourge and propose solutions that both parties could get behind. The Republicans formed such committees to examine Planned Parenthood and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, but they have dismissed the Democrats’ gun-violence entreaties as political theater.

“What’s so scary about a select committee?” asked Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.). “You created two last Congress but can’t find the space for a committee to find a way to save 30,000 American lives every year?

“Is it because there isn’t a Democratic presidential candidate to slander and attack?” added Kelly, who represents Chicago, which has seen more shooting deaths in recent years than any other city. “Or is it because you got a nice check for $5,950?”

The number was a reference to the money the National Rifle Association gave Ryan’s reelection campaign during the 2016 cycle.

Rep. Mike Thompson (Calif.), head of the Democrats’ task force to prevent gun violence, said the select committee would allow Republicans to offer their own ideas on gun reform.

“If you don’t like what we’re bringing forward, you bring something forward,” he said.

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who retired from Congress in 2011 after being shot in the head during a constituent event in Tucson, urged the parties to put aside their differences for the sake of reining in rampant gun violence.

“Stopping gun violence takes courage,” she said. “I’ve seen great courage when my life was on the line. Now is the time to come together [and] be responsible — Democrats, Republicans, everyone.”