According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, more than 36,000 Americans are killed by guns each year, an average of 100 per day. Our region isn’t immune to this terrible trend; the deadly attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh makes that all too clear. 

Such a high number of deaths and injuries isn’t inevitable. I firmly believe that there are policies that the federal government can adopt to reduce the number of gun deaths committed in our country each year, and I am working actively in Congress to have them enacted into law.

In the 117th Congress, I am working to end gun violence by pushing for legislation that:

• Enacts universal background checks and closes dangerous loopholes in current law; I am a cosponsor of H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Check Act, and H.R. 1446, the Enhanced Background Check Act, and I voted for both bills when they were considered by the House on March 11, 2021.
• Bans assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, armor-piercing bullets, and other military-grade weapons; I am a cosponsor of  H.R. 1808, a bill to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines 
• Prohibits domestic abusers from owning or buying firearms, including non-married partners who are convicted of abuse or stalking.
• Ends the ban on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducting research on gun violence; I am a cosponsor of H.R. 825, legislation that would end the ban on research on gun-related violence at the CDC.

As a member of the Gun Violence Prevent Task Force, I believe that these are commonsense steps to combat gun violence. I am passionate about ending the epidemic of gun violence in our country, and I believe that all of us in Congress have a responsibility to prevent more of these terrible tragedies from happening.