Rep. Bowman Leads Colleagues in Letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Common Sense Gun Law Reform

Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (NY-16) led his colleagues in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling for common sense gun law reform.

The letter urges Senator Mitch McConnell to join Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats in passing the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 (H.R. 8) and the Enhanced Background Checks Act (H.R. 1446) out of the Senate. Both bills passed the House and were received in the Senate over a year ago on March 11, 2021.

"Our country is experiencing a gun violence epidemic," said Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16). "Guns are far too accessible in our communities and have led to crisis after crisis. For decades now we've seen school shootings torment our school campuses taking innocent lives and leaving entire families and communities in despair. We've seen places of day to day activities like schools, houses of worship, music festivals, night clubs and spas become places of mass casualties all because guns were accessible to the wrong person. Already vulnerable communities are now seeing guns trafficked into their communities, often killing children and destroying communities. Gun violence impacts all of us and is an existential threat to our lives and our democracy. We must end gun violence and passing H.R. 8 and H.R. 1446 out of the Senate sets us on the path to do that by enacting stronger and universal background checks."

In 2021 the United States saw near record high gun sales with almost 20 million guns sold in total. Of these sales, 30% of purchases were by approximately 5.4 million first-time buyers. These numbers do not account for the exchange of guns and ammunition amongst individuals who are not licensed to have and carry firearms including youth and people with criminal backgrounds. More guns are in our communities and absolutely everything must be done to ensure our communities remain safe. It is on the Senate and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to join both Democrats and Republicans in supporting and passing H.R 8 and H.R. 1446.

Those who signed the letter include: Representatives Colin Allred, Jake Auchincloss, Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Anthony Brown, Andre Carson, Ed Case, David N. Cicilline, Yvette Clarke, Emanuel Cleaver II, Danny K Davis, Madeleine Dean, Mark DeSaulnier, Adriano Espaillat, Dwight Evans, Jesus G. "Chuy" Garcia, Raul Grijalva, Jahana Hayes, Robin Kelly, Ro Khanna, Susie Lee, Mike Levin, Carolyn B. Maloney, Lucy McBath, James P. McGovern, Gregory W. Meeks, Marie Newman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Donald M. Payne, Jr., Scott Peters, Katie Porter, Ayanna Pressley, Jamie Raskin, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Bobby L. Rush, Darren Soto, Thomas Suozzi, Dina Titus, Rashida Tlaib, Ritchie Torres, Juan Vargas, Marc Veasey, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Nikema Williams and Frederica S. Wilson.

A copy of the letter can be viewed here and the text of the correspondence is below. It also cc'd President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.