Democratic presidential candidates, Julian Castro and Beto O'Rourke both pushed the need for new gun control legislation on Sunday in response to the mass shooting in Texas. Also, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan gave an update on Hurricane Dorian.
Castro Wants to Redefine Who Is a Firearms Dealer
The former HUD secretary, told MSNBC on Sunday that he supports redefining who is a firearms dealer in order to expand background checks for those who sell more than five guns in a year.
"I would maximize executive authority to do what we can to keep our families safer from gun violence," Castro said. "For instance, we would immediately redefine who is a firearms dealer so that anybody who sells more than five firearms in a year is classified that way and has to conduct universal background checks."
Castro admitted he understands why some Americans are concerned with the imposition of new gun legislation but argued that only a minority feel that way.
"I agree that there are certain percentage of people that somehow fear that one day the government is going to try and take over the entire country somehow and they're going to need their weapons, but that's actually a minority of people out there, that's not a majority of people,"
O’Rourke Pushes for Mandatory Gun Buyback Legislation
Beto O’Rourke, former Texas congressman and 2020 presidential candidate, told CNN on Sunday that he supports stronger gun laws including a mandatory gun buyback.
"We are going to speak as strongly and as defiantly as we can but we are also going to take action," O’Rourke said. "Universal background checks, red flag laws, and ending the sales of weapons of war and buying those AK-47s and AR-15s back so they cannot be used against our fellow Americans."
O’Rourke emphasized the buyback law would be mandatory, not a choice, forcing Americans to turn in specified weapons.
"Buy those weapons of war back. Mandate that. Not voluntarily. Let’s be really clear with our fellow Americans," O’Rourke said in separate interview with MSNBC.
Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan: ‘Storm Just Strengthened Into a Category 5’
Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan informed CBS's Face the Nation about the gaining strength of Hurricane Dorian.
"They’re sustained winds over 156mph," McAleenan said. "It's now starting to hit the Northern Islands of the Bahamas, and it's moving slowly westward. It's going time pact those islands pretty significantly, and then we expect it to stall out about 60 miles off the Florida coast. That's where most models show it holding for over 24 hours before it starts moving in a northerly direction and staying most likely off-shore of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina."
At this point, the storm is not projected to make landfall in the United States but there will still be significant damage from the storm.
McAleenan was asked to respond to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D., Calif.) criticism on the Trump Administration’s decision to transfer about $150 million of FEMA disaster relief funds to the border.
"I would say she is badly misinformed. There will be no impact of the potential reprogramming on our ability to respond to this storm… I can say that unequivocally." McAleenan said.