The House of Representatives were reportedly scheduled to hear debates on whether it should be easier for Americans to get silencers for guns on Wednesday—just hours after a gunman fired on several GOP congressmen and aides at a baseball field in Virginia, sending Rep. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) to the hospital.
The debate on silencers was canceled in response to the shooting, according to CNN.
While Congress was scheduled to debate gun control measures, a debate among Twitter users popped up online within minutes of reports surfacing of Scalise’s shooting.
Similarly to the debates that crop up following every highly publicized shooting in the United States, people waged passionate arguments both for having stricter gun control laws and for looser laws would have helped prevent the attack.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-K.y.) said everyone at the ballpark would have been killed if not for Capitol Hill Police being at the scene. “It would have been a massacre without them,” Paul said of the police officers who returned fire at the shooter and ultimately subdued him.
Some Twitter users used his quote as a jumping-off point for the debate.
"We would all be dead if Capitol Hill Police weren't there." – #RandPaul on #MorningJoe
— Sin's Beggar (@SinsBeggar) June 14, 2017
Stricter gun control woulda worked too.#Scalise
Others felt yet another shooting in the U.S. just highlighted the need to talk about stricter gun control laws.
Virginia:
— David Frum (@davidfrum) June 14, 2017
No background checks
No licensing
No registration
No permit req’d for concealed carry of long guns
Open carry long guns & handguns
https://twitter.com/resistasista76/status/874966581108908032
Soooo… still no gun control? K.
— Luvvie (@Luvvie) June 14, 2017
owning guns don't keep you safer and fighting gun control makes us all less safe
— maura quint (@behindyourback) June 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/washnews_live/status/874970512266604545
praying for victims.. we need bipartisan legislation on gun control. maybe congress will act now that it has affected one of their own
— Stacey Abrams Stan Account (@emersonhbryant) June 14, 2017
Others were not convinced any gun control measures would be brought about in light of Wednesday’s shooting.
I said it before, I'll say it again. If gun control wasn't passed after the #SandyHooks tragedy, when innocent kids died, it never will be. https://t.co/FZhTMnvLIl
— April (@ReignOfApril) June 14, 2017
But there were also many people who said gun control laws would not have prevented the shooting—with some arguing concealed carry permits should be broadened.
https://twitter.com/MinnPatriot/status/874973586464944129
And CCW. No way to defend yourself. Feel terrible for Scalise. He knows now what it's like for poor people in Chicago.
— Paul Nehlen (@pnehlen) June 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/HickoryTaylor/status/874981698492084224
More gun control laws won't protect you from lunatics but people with guns will.
— El'geherg (@Elgeherg) June 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/TheMarkRomano/status/874972315737567233
As more details of the shooting continue to come out, it is likely the gun control debate will only intensify.