As a lifelong hunter and gun owner, I believe in a law-abiding individual’s right to own a firearm. I also know we have a responsibility to help keep our schools, streets and communities safe. The gun debate isn’t a choice between reducing violence and protecting the Second Amendment. It’s about the willingness of a responsible majority to do both.

In 2012, then-Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed me Chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This group, consisting of more than 170 Members of Congress, is devoted to finding commonsense solutions to our nation’s ongoing gun violence epidemic.

Following my appointment as Chairman, I held a series of open town halls on some of the actions Congress could take to address gun violence. Hundreds attended these meetings. I heard views from law enforcement officials, mental health experts, school officials, NRA leadership and gun violence prevention advocates. Many feared their Second Amendment rights would come under attack. Others wanted to cast these rights aside. I believe both views are too extreme. I’ll never give up my guns and I’ll never ask law-abiding Americans who have no history of mental illness to give up theirs. Not only am I personally against this, but the Constitution forbids it.

The Supreme Court affirmed in District of Columbia v. Heller that Americans have a right to keep and bear arms. However, just as the First Amendment protects free speech while prohibiting incitements to violence, the Second Amendment also has limits. In Heller, the Court upheld laws against firearms in places like schools and laws against felons or the mentally ill carrying guns. This ruling provides folks on both sides an opportunity to pass gun violence prevention legislation while working inside the confines of the Second Amendment.

As a gun owner, I take seriously my obligation to ensure firearms are owned and used responsibly. That’s why I introduced H.R. 8, my bipartisan bill to expand background checks to cover all sales and most transfers. Our background check system works. Every year, background checks stop 88,000 gun sales to criminals, domestic abusers, individuals with dangerous mental illnesses or other prohibited purchasers. However, in some states, those same individuals can buy identical guns at a gun show, over the internet or through a newspaper ad without any questions asked. H.R. 8 would close this loophole, greatly reducing the number of places criminals and the dangerously mentally ill can acquire a firearm.

Tens of thousands of lives have been lost in more than 1,600 mass shootings since Sandy Hook and 90 people die every day in occurrences of gun violence across our country. Please know I’m committed to offering the victims and survivors of this violence more than thoughts and prayers. I was immensely proud when H.R. 8 passed the House of Representatives on March 11, 2021 with a strong bipartisan vote. I look forward to my legislation’s full and fair consideration in the Senate and I’ll continue working with my Senate colleagues to enact H.R. 8 into law.