Florida shooting leads some Republicans to say it's time for Congress to do more than talk

Alan Gomez | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Florida school shooting fuels calls for #GunReformNow The deadly shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school is prompting renewed calls for more gun control.

Several leading Republicans said Thursday that Congress and the federal government should finally dive into the issue of gun violence following a massacre at a South Florida high school that killed 17 people.

While recent shootings have usually been followed by offers of thoughts and prayers — and attacks against people in both parties who are seen to be politicizing mass shootings — House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Thursday Congress should remove restrictions it has imposed that prevent the federal government from studying mental health issues that lead to gun violence.

Goodlatte, who has announced he is retiring at the end of his current term, said it was time to end a 22-year restriction that forbids the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from studying the links between mental health and gun violence.

That restriction was written into law by Rep. Jay Dickey, an Arkansas Republican who died in 2017. Before his death, Dickey said he grew to regret the restriction he had authored. Shortly after the 2012 shooting inside a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., that killed 12, Dickey argued in an op-ed that the shooting, "was not a 'senseless' occurrence as random as a hurricane or earthquake but, rather, has underlying causes that can be understood and used to prevent similar mass shootings."

On Thursday, Goodlatte agreed, saying it was time to allow the CDC to research the issue.

"I certainly don't think it's inappropriate, particularly if the original author of that says it should be examined," Goodlatte said during an interview on C-SPAN's Newsmakers that will air this weekend. "One of the aspects of gun control is the misuse of guns by people with mental illness. That seems to me to be something that could be discussed."

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Congress should hold hearings after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. She said mass shootings are too often followed by finger-pointing that leads to plenty of debate but no solutions.

"Congress needs to be holding hearings on these issues," DeVos said during an appearance on the conservative Hugh Hewitt radio program. "We’ve seen lots of discussion about this every time we’ve had another incident. But we need to have a conversation at the level where lawmakers can actually impact the future. It’s their job."

That followed a hearing on Capitol Hill where Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was asked whether the budget should include funding to deal with the proliferation of gun violence.

"I will say personally I think the gun violence, it's a tragedy what we've seen yesterday, and I'd urge Congress to look at these issues," Mnuchin said while testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee. "I assure you I appreciate the severity and the tragedy and I will speak to the president and the other cabinet members."