Klobuchar again calls on Majority Leader McConnell to bring the Senate back into session to vote on gun safety reforms
WASHINGTON – On Sunday August 4th, 2019, immediately following the mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) called on the Senate Majority leader to bring the Senate back into session to vote on gun reforms. On Saturday, 22 people were shot and killed in El Paso, Texas; hours later, nine people were shot and killed in Dayton, Ohio. Today, she once again reiterated:
“This has been an incredibly dark weekend for our country. From El Paso to Dayton, we lost dozens of lives in less than 24 hours. We simply cannot go on like this. While we mourn the victims and their families, mourning is not enough. Thoughts and prayers are not enough. Only action will begin to solve this deadly crisis. Leader McConnell needs to immediately call the Senate back to Washington to vote on the House-passed gun safety legislation. These commonsense reforms, like universal background checks, could be on the President’s desk tomorrow. Failure to act now will only lead to more senseless death.
“We can no longer be a country where parents give their lives to save their children and politicians sit silently on their hands.”
Klobuchar is a national leader in the fight to pass commonsense gun violence prevention legislation. She is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and prior to her time in the Senate, Klobuchar served as Hennepin County Attorney. She is a cosponsor of the Senate companion bill to H.R. 8, the Background Check Expansion Act (S. 42), the Assault Weapons Ban (S. 66), and a bill to incentivize states to adopt extreme risk protection orders laws (S. 506).
For years, Klobuchar has worked to pass her bill to protect dating partners and victims of stalking from gun violence. Her bill would close what is commonly referred to as the ‘boyfriend loophole’ by preventing people who have abused dating partners from buying or owning a gun. The bill would also prevent people convicted of stalking from possessing a gun. In February 2018, Klobuchar was invited to speak at the White House in the wake of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, to discuss gun safety legislation. There, President Trump told her, “We’re going to get it passed.” A year later, with no action taken, she was joined by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) in a letter to the President asking him to follow through on that promise. To date, the Senate has failed to take up any commonsense gun violence prevention legislation.
Klobuchar has also been leading the fight for Senate passage of the House-passed of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act, which includes her provision to protect dating partners and victims of stalking from gun violence. She has met with advocates from across the country, including former-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and student leaders from March for Our Lives, to discuss the legislation and other ways to pass strong gun violence prevention laws.
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