Congresswoman Beatty Calls on Mitch McConnell to Reconvene Senate to Act on Bipartisan Gun Violence Prevention Legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, in the wake of the deadly weekend shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, U.S. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03) joined with 213 members of the House Democratic Caucus to demand Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) bring the Senate back into session immediately to vote on the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, H.R. 8, and the Enhanced Background Checks Act, H.R. 1112.

"My constituents, Ohioans, and Americans everywhere are calling on Congress to take meaningful action to end gun violence," Beatty said. "Yet, Majority Leader McConnell refuses to act—let alone allow a conversation on two bipartisan gun violence prevention bills passed by the House six months ago." She continued, "We owe it to the victims in Dayton, El Paso, Gilroy, their family and friends, and the countless other victims of gun violence across our country every day to do something. Enough is enough."

If enacted, H.R. 8 would require a mandatory background check on all firearm sales, with limited, reasonable exceptions, and close the "gun show loophole." H.R. 1112 would close the "Charleston Loophole" that allows individuals to obtain a firearm three days after a background check is initiated—no matter if it is completed or not. In 2015, a perpetrator used this legal technicality to acquire a gun to kill nine members of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

"Nearly 95 percent of Americans support universal background checks, but under Republican Leadership similar measures have stalled." Beatty exclaimed, "We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to what is happening in our backyard—because there is not a single community that has been spared from gun violence."

In addition to supporting these bills, Beatty authored the Safer America for Everyone Right (SAFER) Now Act, H.R. 282. Beatty's comprehensive gun violence prevention bill would ban assault weapons, close loopholes, encourage gun buybacks, and make firearm trafficking a federal crime, among other provisions.

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