Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Adopts Statement of Principles Regarding Gun Violence Prevention

Statement

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Justice Reform Working Group and a Senior Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding the CBC adopting their "Statement of Principles' regarding gun violence prevention:

"The Members of the Congressional Black Caucus recognize the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing the problem of gun violence in America. Guns and the harm perpetrated by them impact every American and the events at Sandy Hook and Aurora only underscore how random gun violence events can be; but it is important to appreciate that regular gun violence has a particularly devastating impact on the constituents of many CBC Members, but especially those in certain urban areas with a propensity for high rates of violent crimes. Consistent with this, the CBC has formally adopted the following Statement of Principles regarding Gun Violence Prevention:

- Improving access to mental health services

- Supporting intervention regarding child mental health needs

- Finding solutions to bullying epidemic

- Providing for expanded teaching of conflict resolution in primary and secondary schools

- Gun registration and ammunition registration

- Expansion of "Good Time" legislation

- Violence Prevention/Gang Prevention

- "Violence Prevention/Gang Prevention/Summer Jobs (To include advocating for passage of the Youth PROMISE Act)."

- Penalties for lack of gun storage by adults:

(1) Gun Safety Locks (2) Reasonable Care Standard (3) Non-Negligence Standard

"Over one million people have been killed with guns in the United States since 1968. U.S. homicide rates are 6.9 times higher than rates in 22 other populous high-income countries combined, despite similar non-lethal crime and violence rates. Most gun owners are responsible and law-abiding, and they use their guns safely. I have introduced HR 65, the Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act and she has co-sponsored other gun safety legislation while in Congress. Many in the law enforcement community have expressed strong support for her legislation.

"As the Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus and a senior Member of the Judiciary Committee, I have listened far too often to the tragic testimony of individuals who have survived or lost loved ones as a result of gun violence. In America there exists a pernicious culture of violence; a subculture that with today's technologically advanced weaponry is far more dangerous to public safety than ever before. At no point in our nation's history has a single human been more capable of inflicting massive death and misery, and our society is producing more individuals who wish to employ such means to carry out their ill intentions."

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