Mass. mayors urge Congress to act on gun control
Pressure McConnell to reconvene Senate
Eleven Bay State mayors have joined more than 200 of their counterparts in calling for the U.S. Senate to take up gun safety legislation after the latest fatal mass shootings.
The mayors of Boston, Beverly, Cambridge, Everett, Framingham, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Newton, Salem and Somerville signed onto the letter from the United States Conference of Mayors, which urges Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reconvene the Senate and pass gun control bills that have already cleared the House of Representatives.
McConnell said Thursday he wants Congress to consider legislation to expand federal background checks and other gun violence measures when lawmakers return in the fall.
“The tragic events in El Paso and Dayton this week are just the latest reminders that our nation can no longer wait for our federal government to take the actions necessary to prevent people who should not have access to firearms from being able to purchase them,” the mayors’ letter reads.
The letter, sent Thursday, highlights two bipartisan bills passed by the House earlier this year that would strengthen the background check system for firearm purchases — and says “quick passage of these bills is a critical step to reducing gun violence in our country.”
“Gun reform is action we need to take now, and is long overdue,” Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said. “The federal government has the power to enact strong and sensible gun laws, preventing these tragedies from happening. I’m proud to stand with my fellow mayors from across the country to advocate for new laws that will save lives.”
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, who knows Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, where nine people were shot dead early Sunday, said, “None of us want to have to be in those shoes.”
“Two hundred and fifty mass shootings in 2019 is 250 too many,” Driscoll said, adding that the House legislation could help. “This one doesn’t feel hard. This feels like the least we can do at this moment in time.”
Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone said, “It is both infuriating and disheartening that some members of Congress have accepted 250 mass shootings this year as normal. That’s the only explanation I can come up with for why common sense gun legislation … hasn’t been passed yet.”
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said mayors across the country “have been shoring up securing in public places to protect their residents” for years, but the recent shootings show “it isn’t enough. We need Congress to do its part.”