From Katherine Clark, 5th district MA.
...
In the last 10 days, we have experienced 3 horrific mass shootings in this country – targeting children in their elementary school, Black citizens grocery shopping, and people attending a church service.
I’m furious, I’m heartbroken, but we are not powerless.
The House already passed wildly popular legislation to institute violent history checks, close the loophole that allows guns to be sold at gun shows without background checks, and close the "Charleston loophole" to give the FBI more time on background checks.
Reasonable people, including responsible gun owners, agree on the commonsense steps we can take to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. In fact,
83% of gun owners and
74% of Republican voters support background checks on all gun purchases.
But Republicans in Congress have become the most extreme fringe of their party, who believe children murdered at school, elders murdered at a grocery store, and worshippers murdered at church is preferable to universal background checks or Red Flag laws.
Guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens in America, killing more kids than cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, AIDS, and opioids COMBINED.
To my Republican colleagues, I ask that if you won’t do anything - literally anything - to stop the slaughter of children in school, then why are you even in Congress?
It doesn’t have to be this way. We have the power to save lives — the House already passed the
Bipartisan Background Checks Act and the
Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021. If the GOP refuses to do the bare minimum to keep our families safe, they don't deserve to serve — it’s a dereliction of duty.
The time for excuses is over. I will not give up this fight.
Sincerely,
|
Congresswoman Katherine Clark
Assistant Speaker of the House of Representatives |
Dems doing the full-court press ...