After shooting at congressional baseball practice, Newtown group demands gun control reform

After the mass shooting incident at the congressional baseball practice this morning, Po Murray, Chairman of Newtown Action Alliance, issued the following statement:

This morning, gun violence touched the lives of Congressional members and their staff on a baseball field.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, today’s tragic shooting is the 153rd mass shooting incident in the United States since January.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, congressional staffers and police officers who were shot this morning. We are hoping all will recover quickly from the gunshot wounds.

Nearly half a million Americans have been killed or injured by guns since the Sandy Hook shooting less than five years ago.

Following that tragedy, Connecticut passed the second strongest gun laws in the nation and these laws are already saving lives.

Regrettably, the senseless shootings of 20 children and six educators were not enough for Congress to take action to strengthen the federal gun laws that would help prevent gun violence in our nation.

The majority of House and Senate Republicans were not courageous enough to reject the corporate gun lobby’s money and rhetoric and they have helped the gun industry sell more guns that are seeping into more public spaces throughout the nation.

We must take steps now to stem the tide of this growing epidemic. With lax gun laws and more than 300 million guns in the United States, no Republican, Democrat, Independent or unaffiliated citizen is safe from gun violence.

In addition to thoughts and prayers, we implore the 115th Congress and President Donald Trump to reject the permissive gun laws being promoted by the corporate gun lobby and pass the following gun laws to make America safe again:

• PASS THE GUN VIOLENCE RESTRAINING ORDER ACT OF 2017

• CLOSE THE LOOPHOLES AND EXPAND BACKGROUND CHECKS ON THE SALE OF ALL GUNS

• BAN MILITARY-STYLE ASSAULT WEAPONS AND HIGH CAPACITY MAGAZINES

• REPEAL THE 2005 PROTECTION OF LAWFUL COMMERCE IN ARMS ACT (PLCAA)

• ALLOW THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), AS WELL AS OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES, TO AGGRESSIVELY CONDUCT RESEARCH ON GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION

No matter the motive of a gunman, without passing these sensible federal gun laws, each one of us and our family members are sensitive to gun violence.