Boston (December 14, 2015) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement to commemorate the third anniversary of the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
“Three years after the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School took the lives of twenty innocent children and six adults, we must recommit ourselves to taking action to prevent future tragedies. With more mass shootings than days so far this year, Americans cannot deny or hide from the epidemic of gun violence.
“Democrats in Congress have proposed commonsense gun safety reforms to strengthen and improve background checks. But Republicans and the gun lobby have blocked these efforts at every turn. We need to close the loophole that allows those on a terrorist watch list to purchase guns. We need to close the loophole that allows illegal guns to flood our neighborhoods and endanger our communities. We need to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines. America’s doctors and public health professionals agree that it’s time to end the ban on gun violence research so we can study this epidemic like the public health crisis that it is.
“I call on all of my Congressional colleagues to commit to stopping the hemorrhaging of lives and spirit that gun violence causes for families in Massachusetts and across the country and to support commonsense gun safety measures.”
In June, Senator Markey introduced bicameral legislation to fund research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on gun violence prevention and firearms safety. The legislation calls for $10 million each year for six years beginning in fiscal year 2016. Senator Markey is also the author of “The Handgun Trigger Safety Act”, legislation to ensure that only authorized users can operate handguns.
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