Senators Murphy, Schumer, And Blumenthal Join Everytown, Moms Demand Action And Gun Violence Survivors To Demand A Vote On Legislation To Keep Guns Out Of Dangerous Hands

Press Release

Today, Senators Chris Murphy, Chuck Schumer, and Richard Blumenthal joined Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown, along with survivors of gun violence from Charleston, Aurora, Isla Vista and Georgia, to demand a vote from Congress on life-saving background check legislation to keep guns out of dangerous hands by requiring a criminal background check on all gun sales.

The event on Capitol Hill was in response to a spate of summer gun violence -- from Charleston to Chattanooga to Lafayette, to the 88 Americans who are killed by gun violence every day -- that highlights the loopholes that make it easy for dangerous people to get guns. Everytown and Moms Demand Action have been galvanizing Americans to demand more than just prayers and sympathy from elected leaders, including passing common-sense background check legislation.

"The best way to reduce gun violence is to keep guns away from dangerous people. The time is now for Congress to listen to the voices of the mothers and fathers, friends and loved ones who are here with us today, and act to improve our background checks system. Right now, a criminal can buy a gun if the FBI can't complete the background check in three days. That makes no sense. We're working to inject reason back into the law and give law enforcement the time they need to do their jobs. If it takes an extra day or two be sure we're not arming violent offenders, it's worth the wait," said Senator Chris Murphy. "Some matters are nuanced, complicated and confusing, but this issue is black-and-white, right-and-wrong. If you think dangerous criminals should have easy access to guns, do nothing. If you want to stop this madness, work with us to fix this."

"Too many guns are sold without a complete background check because of human mistakes, systemic mistakes and loopholes - the task before us is to fix this great net we have created or else we will continue to wake up to headlines of preventable tragedies," said Senator Chuck Schumer. "We need to repair the net, we need to tighten the net, and we need to expand the net. Unless and until we do those three things, we will continue to see promising young lives vanish in an instant. We'll continue to reflect on tragedy after tragedy and wonder what we could have done."

"Every day the number of deaths caused by gun violence continues to grow -- heinous, unacceptable, inhumanity that threatens to become the new normal," said Senator Richard Blumenthal. "We cannot be numbed into complacency, as Congress apparently has been. Congress must act now. Each next news bulletin bears tragic word that more innocent American lives have needlessly been lost-- tragedies that can and must be prevented."

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