One month after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Assembly Homeland Security Committee Chair Annette Quijano joined with mayors and police chiefs from across New Jersey in Cranford today to call on members of Congress to take immediate steps to end the nation’s gun violence epidemic.
“The proliferation of gun violence across our country is nothing short of an epidemic,” said Quijano (D-Union). “This is a problem that transcends political parties, geography and race and demands action from our national leaders.”
The event, hosted by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, was designed to shed light on the fact that 33 Americans are murdered with guns every day, while Washington lawmakers have done nothing to address this critical issue and stop the bloodshed. Now, just one month to the day after 26 innocent people were murdered in Newtown, Quijano and others demanded common-sense gun reforms that will help save American lives.
“New Jersey has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, but the flow of guns does not stop at our border. Without tougher federal laws, this will only do so much to stem the tide of gun violence. We need a coordinated federal effort that incorporates criminal background checks on all gun sales, a ban on military-style assault weapons with high capacity ammunition and a mental health component to help crack down on gun violence, particularly the type of mass casualty tragedies we’ve witnessed lately,” added Quijano.
During today’s event, Mayors Against Illegal Guns also released a new television ad featuring family members of gun violence victims demanding a plan of action from Washington. The ad will air in the New York metropolitan media market and can be seen here: www.DemandAPlan.org .
Since the Newtown shooting, more than 100 mayors have joined the bipartisan ranks of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, which now includes more than 800 mayors representing 59 million Americans in 44 states. In New Jersey, there are more than 70 Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The coalition has grown to more than one million grassroots supporters nationwide in an effort to keep their communities safe. TLS.
Any legislation will have to be written with deference to the Lopez v US ruling of 1995. Congress will have to be careful to target guns because their potential to cross state lines or their effect on the channels of interstate commerce rather than the Wickard (1943) type argument over the aggregate effect on interstate commerce.
As we move to enact laws that WE HOPE will stop gang members (3/4 of ALL shootings) from acquiring guns…none of them use semi-automatic rifles. Semi-automatics have been around since the early 1900s, WW1 saw the 1911 pistol among others. Less than 1% of all shootings involve semi-automatic rifles. As far as prohibiting “armor piercing bullets”, all sporting (hunting) rifles will penetrate bullet resistant vests. Remember what happenend in Germany, Poland, Austria…NEVER FORGET!