This coming week, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will consider three pieces of legislation, outlined below, to address gun violence. The League of Women Voters urges you to contact your U.S. House representative today to express your support and urge them to move these bills forward for a full House vote this fall.
In February, the House passed HR 8 the Bipartisan Background Check Act and sent it to the Senate for consideration (S 42). This legislation will make us all safer by requiring a background check for virtually every firearm sale and transfer. It does nothing to impede lawful gun purchases, while closing off a wide avenue for illegal transactions by prohibited buyers. It enjoys the support of the vast majority of Americans but is still waiting on a vote in the U.S. Senate.
Next week’s hearing in the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will focus on three other bills that tackle the issue of gun violence prevention. The legislation includes:
HR 1186, the Keep Americans Safe Act, banning high capacity ammunition magazines.
HR 1236, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019 provides incentives through grants for states to adopt laws providing for Extreme Risk Protection Orders to prevent those deemed a risk to themselves or others from accessing firearms and establishes a procedure for obtaining Extreme Risk Protection Orders in federal court.
HR 2708, the Disarm Hate Act, which includes those convicted of misdemeanor hate crimes in the list of categories of individuals prohibited from possessing firearms.
Click here for a Sept. 7 NY Times article which describes the challenges of passing common sense gun safety legislation in Congress, tracking back to the 1994 assault weapons ban.