Author: Mary Gay Scanlon
One of the first U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearings I attended focused on the impact of gun violence on our communities—the first such hearing in almost a decade.
It was devastating.
Parents clung to photos of their buried children. Survivors fought through tears, demanding action. As we voted to send two gun safety bills to the House, supporters and committee members cried tears of joy.
We are losing 100 people every day to an epidemic that some would rather politicize than solve. From hate-fueled massacres like the mass shootings in Pittsburgh and El Paso, to the senseless violence we see every day in our communities, this is a public health crisis and it’s time to treat it as such. We can’t wait any longer.
Too often, progress is lost on the headlines. Thanks to the work of groups like CeaseFire PA, Moms Demand Action, Giffords and Everytown, and a commitment to change with a modern generation of advocates who simply have the right to vote, Pennsylvania joined other states in passing commonsense gun safety laws last year after for the first time in decades and we elected our first gun safety majority in the House of Representatives.
Since January, the House has passed four major gun safety measures, including H.R.8 – Bipartisan Background Checks Act, H.R.1112 – Enhanced Background Checks Closing the Charleston Loophole, H.R. 2740 – Increased Funding for the Centers for Disease Control to Study Gun Violence in Schools, and H.R. 1585 – Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which includes a measure to close the loophole in the boy’s case.
An El Paso, Dayton, Franklin & Marshall poll found mighty support for modern gun laws
All of these bills are on Mitch McConnell’s desk, ready for the Senate to consider. McConnell jokes about his legislative cemetery, but each year 40,000 families bury loved ones in real cemeteries when their lives are cut miniature by gun violence. House Resolution 8 and H.R. 1112 were supposed to be common sense bills that, as we see, have become laws that 97 percent of the American public supports, but they too lie untouched on McConnell’s desk.
Therefore, our work must continue.
Gun violence has become the second leading cause of death among children in this country and the leading cause of death for black children. Nearly two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides, and more than 50 women are fatally shot by their partners each month.
The United States, uniquely among developed nations, owns an epidemic of gun violence, and it’s time we owned up to solutions that are long overdue. Responsible gun ownership, supported by life-saving gun safety policies, does not violate the Second Amendment.
We must close background check loopholes, restore the assault weapons ban, ban bulk magazines, and provide much more hearty community mental health services.
A modern Franklin & Marshall poll finds Biden and Warren leading in Pa.’s Democratic primary
These are all commonsense constitutional measures. While increasing bloodshed is transforming our families and communities in ways we could never have imagined, like armed guards at places of worship and bulletproof backpacks for adolescent children, we cannot afford any more excuses or delays. We need action.
How many more people must die before our representatives in all branches of government muster the courage to throw off the golden shackles of the NRA and act in the best interests of the people they represent?
We cannot become numb to this violence, the pain of lives lost and anger at uncaring leaders.
We will not stop fighting or stand silently. We will turn our pain into compassion, our fatigue into support, and our paralysis into action. Our families, our children and our country depend on it.
U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat, represents the 5th Congressional District in Delaware County. I’m writing from Washington
