Chairman Thompson: Congressional Republicans Can't Keep Sitting on their Hands while Mass Shootings Become Commonplace

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5), Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, today called on Congressional Republicans to act on commonsense gun violence prevention laws in the aftermath of another mass shooting, this time at Umpqua Community College (UCC) in Roseberg, Oregon.

"Every single time a mass shooting happens we go through the same routine. Thoughts and prayers are sent. Statements are made. Stories are written. And nothing changes. Yesterday it was nine people at a community college. A month ago it was a news reporter and cameraman in Virginia. Two months before that it was a prayer group in Charleston. Mass gun violence has become as commonplace as it is tragic.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Congressional Republicans have done nothing over and over again and, predictably, the results have been the same: more innocent lives lost, more families forever changed, and more mass gun violence.

"Hours before the UCC shooting 147 bipartisan Members of Congress sent Speaker Boehner a letter urging him to act on gun violence prevention. The five brave co-authors of our background check bill notwithstanding, Republicans have done nothing. Republicans have a majority in Congress, and a White House and Democratic Caucus willing to work with them. All they need to do is get off their hands and act.

"Let's have this time be different. This time, let's actually pull together and do something to make our country safer."

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source