Issue Position: Gun Violence

Issue Position

On December 14, 2012, I joined the rest of the nation, and the citizens of Connecticut, in mourning the tragic loss experienced at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I also know that the urban cores if our cities have been facing this epidemic, almost unnoticed by the general public, for a very long time. I've been in a neighborhood when gun shots have went off, and I've seen firsthand how the fear of violence affects our kids. Comprehensive gun reform is needed to combat this day-to-day gun violence and the root causes of it.

I will fight every day in Congress to promote and pass common sense legislation that will prevent gun violence. In addition, I will work to continue to advance and improve our nation's mental health system, while also ensuring that law enforcement has the tools to keep our streets and communities safe. For me this isn't anti-gun or pro-gun, it's about being anti-gun violence. We can do something about it and we have an obligation to do something about it.

I support:

Universal background checks for every gun sale.

"No Fly, No Buy," which bans the purchase of firearms by people on the FBI's terror watch list and no-fly list.

Additional funding to fight straw purchases and combat gun trafficking.

Allocating funding to empower the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study gun violence as a public health issue.

A federal assault weapons ban to keep weapons of war off our streets.

Expanding background checks to ALL firearms, including sales on the internet.

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