RESEARCHERS CALL ON SENATE TO PASS UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS
Washington, DC (June 21, 2019) — It has been over 100 days since the House of Representatives passed H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019. Yesterday, a group of leading gun violence researchers from across the country wrote a letter in support of universal background checks and asked Senate leaders to bring this piece of legislation to the floor for a vote. More than 30 experts signed on to the letter, including members of the Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy, a group of experts convened by the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence.
The letter states:
“Background checks are the foundation of all policies designed to keep guns away from high-risk individuals. New and existing firearm prohibitions cannot be fully enforced without a background check on all gun sales. In 2017, there were nearly 40,000 gun deaths in the United States — over 100 every day, on average. In order to begin to ameliorate the public health crisis of gun-related violence and suicide, the Senate must follow the House of Representatives’ lead and bring this critical piece of legislation to the Senate floor for a vote.”
