Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said Monday that the National Rifle Association's (NRA) political influence over Congress has "gone too far."
"The National Rifle Association is so powerful and so political. Now they're saying 'oh, let's not make this political.' There's no one more political than the National Rifle Association, said Schakowsky on MSNBC.
The Illinois congresswoman accused lawmakers of blindly voting in favor of the NRA's legislative positions.
"As soon as they introduce anything you get some 300 members of Congress, without even reading the bill voting in favor of the NRA position. It's just ridiculous. It's gone too far," she said.
Schakowsky echoed her colleague Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y), who spoke on MSNBC earlier Monday, in calling for a "national discussion" on gun control in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.
"Do we think that an individual, any individual needs to purchase 6,000 bullets online? Do we think that any individual really needs a weapon that will shoot 100 rounds at a time? Do you need that to hunt? Do you need that for any practical purpose? Of course not and I think that most Americans actually agree with that," she said.
The shooting rampage Friday that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded has re-ignited the gun control debate among lawmakers, however, analysts do not expect efforts for stricter laws to gain traction in Congress.
When pressed on whether lawmakers will be capable of enacting new gun legislation in the wake of this massacre despite past inaction, Schakowsky said she hopes there is a "tipping point" that spurs the public to call for legislative changes.
"Yes we mourn for all of those whose lives who were lost. It's a very serious issue, but you know that in ten states gun homicides exceed traffic accidents right now … we have to do something about it. There's no reason in the United States of America, the land of the free, that people have to be afraid to go to the movies," she said.
