Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from Everytown for Gun Safety and a coalition letter led by the Newtown Action Alliance signed by over 40 organizations from around the country opposing this bill. Everytown for Gun Safety, New York, NY, March 7, 2017. Re Reject H.R. 1181, which would put U.S. veterans in danger. Hon. Phil Roe, Chairman, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Washington, DC. Hon. Tim Walz, Ranking Member, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Roe and Ranking Member Walz: I write to express Everytown for Gun Safety's strong opposition to H.R. 1181. In the midst of a suicide epidemic among our veterans, this bill would discard hundreds of thousands of mental health records from the background check system and enable Veterans Affairs beneficiaries suffering from severe mental illness to buy firearms. The stakes could not be higher. Twenty U.S. veterans take their lives each day--a suicide rate more than 20 percent higher than among the civilian population. Two in three of those suicides are carried out with firearms. While suicide in the general population has decreased since the turn of the century, suicide among veterans has not. H.R. 1181 would repeal the law that blocks VA beneficiaries from possessing or purchasing firearms if they have been found mentally incompetent, after receiving due process and the right to a formal hearing.…”