WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Deputy Whip of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, was joined by 130 House Democrats in a letter calling on Speaker Johnson to take action to end the gun violence epidemic.
The lawmakers wrote: “Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children, teenagers and law enforcement. This crisis is unsustainable and will be addressed by this generation of leaders or the next, but we are not bound to endure this pain forever. In previous generations Republicans have joined Democrats in combatting gun violence.
They continued: “We have been working tirelessly on polices that keep people safe including keeping firearms out of the hands of those who are a danger to themselves or others; giving law enforcement and the courts the ability to intervene before a crisis has taken place; and restricting access to firearms and devices that are unacceptably dangerous like ghost guns, bump stocks or other devices and firearms that shoot dozens of rounds in seconds.
“Join us in the essential cause of protecting American children from the brutal and unnecessary horrors of any more gun violence,” the lawmakers concluded.
BACKGROUND
During the short tenure of Speaker Johnson, gun violence has killed more than 74,640 people and injured another 55,601 people. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children, teenagers and law enforcement.
For decades, Republicans and Democrats have worked together to pass bipartisan bills to help prevent gun violence:
- In 1934, Congress passed the National Firearms Act to regulate machineguns, silencers, sawed off shotguns and short barreled rifles because they were the weapons of choice for gangsters.
- In 1993, Congress passed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act which required background checks.
- In 1994, Congress passed the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, which temporarily restricted access to certain classes of extraordinarily dangerous firearms and large capacity magazines.
- In 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act which expanded background checks for 18–20-year-olds, cracked down on gun traffickers, closed a loophole exploited by domestic abusers, funded school mental health and encouraged the expansion of state red flag laws.
These bills saved lives, but more action is needed.
This Congress, Members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force have introduced legislation to expand background checks, safe storage, keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others, and regulate weapons that are being used by criminals to harm our communities. Despite widespread public support for common-sense gun safety laws, House Republicans have refused to act on these bills. To date, no gun safety measures have been marked up at the committee level or brought for consideration to the House floor in this Republican-controlled House. Passing gun safety legislation should be a priority for all lawmakers.
Read the full text of the letter here.