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Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is calling out South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham for his openness to voting with Democrats on gun control legislation.
During an episode of “MTG Live,” the Georgia lawmaker argued such measures were going to “hurt the very people that voted for him and put him in office.”
“Here’s the major problem: Why would we have a Republican senator from South Carolina ready to go to vote on radical gun control bills? They’re gonna hurt the very people that voted for him and put him in office. You see, South Carolina is not a blue state. No, South Carolina is a red state,” Greene said.
“There’s a lot of gun owners in South Carolina, and they are not going to be very happy with the senator that they elected and sent to Washington, D.C., to represent their values, to defend their freedoms, and protect their gun rights and uphold the Constitution,” she continued. “They’re not going to like it very much when he’s up here helping Joe Biden pass his communist agenda and go ahead and destroy their Second Amendment rights.”
Greene was referring to comments and tweets from Graham, who is involved in bipartisan Senate negotiations on gun legislation.
Earlier this week, Graham took to Twitter and expressed his openness to passing gun control measures after President Joe Biden’s speech urging Congress to take specific actions in response to recent mass shootings.
“I stand ready to vote on ALL the proposals mentioned by President Biden tonight and encourage the Democratic Leader to bring them forward for votes,” Graham tweeted.
“I also stand ready to work across the aisle to find common ground – something that was absent from President Biden’s address to the nation,” he said in a follow-up tweet.
I also stand ready to work across the aisle to find common ground – something that was absent from President Biden’s address to the nation.
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— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 3, 2022
Earlier this month, Biden praised two “rational Republican” senators that he said were ready to sign on to new federal gun control legislation following recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde.
Biden noted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. John Cornyn have indicated they would support working with Democrats to craft new gun bills.
“I think there’s a realization on the part of rational Republicans — and I consider McConnell a rational Republican, and Cornyn is as well. I think there’s a recognition on their part … that we can’t continue like this. We can’t do this,” the president told reporters after returning to the White House on Monday.
Biden has vowed to do something to further restrict access to firearms, but he did note that he has limitations as president.
“But I can’t outlaw a weapon. I can’t, you know, change the background checks,” he said. “I can’t do that.”
As such, he is looking for assistance from Republicans, who are 50-50 in the Senate where Democrats control with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote.
Cornyn has already been tasked by McConnell to open negotiations with Democrats on new gun legislation though nothing has emerged as of yet. Anything that Democrats want will pass in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi enjoys a narrow majority.
“We’re already having those discussions in person and on the phone. Look forward to meeting on Tuesday through a Zoom call to try to see if we can agree on a basic framework about how we go forward,” the Texas Republican told reporters in San Antonio last week.
Reports indicated that 8 Republican senators all met last week to help organize the discussions. They include retiring Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania along with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen. Bill Cassidy — who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump following the Capitol riot — of Louisiana.
Democrats, of course, would like to see new gun legislation — in the form of restrictions on guns — emerge.
