Press Releases

Today, Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02), a senior House Democrat and member of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, joined Chairman Mike Thompson (CA-5) and 145 other House Lawmakers in calling on Congressional Republican leaders to act on commonsense gun violence prevention laws in the aftermath of another mass shooting, this time at Umpqua Community College (UCC) in Roseberg, Oregon. Click here to read the letter online.

“Every single time a mass shooting happens we go through the same routine. Thoughts and prayers are sent. Statements are made. Stories are written. And nothing changes,” McGovern and House Democrats wrote. “Yesterday it was nine people at a community college. A month ago it was a news reporter and cameraman in Virginia. Two months before that it was a prayer group in Charleston. Mass gun violence has become as commonplace as it is tragic.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Congressional Republicans have done nothing over and over again and, predictably, the results have been the same: more innocent lives lost, more families forever changed, and more mass gun violence.

“Hours before the UCC shooting 147 bipartisan Members of Congress sent Speaker Boehner a letter urging him to act on gun violence prevention. The five brave co-authors of our background check bill notwithstanding, Republicans have done nothing.  Republicans have a majority in Congress, and a White House and Democratic Caucus willing to work with them. All they need to do is get off their hands and act.

“Let’s have this time be different. This time, let’s actually pull together and do something to make our country safer.”

McGovern has co-sponsored legislation to ensure that no gun is sold by a licensed dealer until a background check is completed and to close the gun show loophole.

The full text of the letter to Speaker Boehner is below and online here.

October 1, 2015

The Honorable John Boehner

Speaker

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 2015

Dear Speaker Boehner,

Gun violence affects every District and every community in America.  We were all shocked and saddened by the senseless deaths of the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy and have vowed that we would not let this happen again.  Sadly, since then, America has been witness to at least 53 mass shootings[1]. Every day in this country, more than thirty people die as a result of gun violence.[2] This does not even address the individual victims of domestic violence or other vicious crimes that destroy families and communities.

Our children should be safe in schools.  People should be allowed to worship without threat of violence. Walking the neighborhoods of our cities should not be a high-risk activity. It is long past time that Congress addresses this national epidemic.  We must ensure that guns do not make it into the hands of criminals, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill.  We can do this without infringing on Constitutionally guaranteed rights.

We call on you to bring to the Floor legislation that can protect innocent lives while safeguarding the rights of law abiding gun owners.  No legislation will stop every tragedy, but passing commonsense gun laws will at least stop some.  It is the least we can do to honor the memory of those we’ve lost to gun violence and prevent that list from growing.

                                                              Sincerely,

###