Norton Introduces Resolution to Designate June as ‘National Gun Violence Awareness Month’
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a resolution to designate June as "National Gun Violence Awareness Month" and will seek cosponsors. Like many other Members of Congress and other Americans, Norton is wearing orange today, Friday, June 2, to recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Norton wrote her resolution—detailing stunning facts about guns and gun violence in the U.S.—as a way to keep the pressure on Congress to act to pass national gun safety laws and to leave the District of Columbia's gun safety laws alone.
"Congress may be sitting idly by as gun violence continues to wreak havoc on thousands of families, but we cannot afford to do the same," Norton said. "My resolution will not get Republicans to pass common sense legislation like requiring universal background checks, but it will remind my colleagues that gun safety advocates are not going away. The District of Columbia is a natural leader in this struggle because of unceasing Republican attempts to wipe out the District's gun safety laws, including its ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Constant and unrelenting pressure by the American people is critical to getting this do-nothing Congress to find its moral backbone."
Norton's full resolution is below.
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the designation of June 2017 as National Gun Violence Awareness Month and calling on Congress to address gun violence.
Whereas summer is the season with the highest rates of gun violence in the United States;
Whereas 100,000 Americans suffer gunshot wounds in the United States every year;
Whereas approximately 89 people die and approximately 300 are injured from gun violence each day in the United States;
Whereas more than 50 percent of all gunshot victims in the United States are under 30 years old;
Whereas every 60 minutes one American under the age of 25 loses his or her life to gun violence;
Whereas 5 percent of gun dealers (approximately 3,000 dealers nationwide) supply nearly 90 percent of all crime guns that show up in American streets;
Whereas fewer than 100 people in the United States have been killed in terror attacks since September 11, 2001, but tens of thousands have been killed by gun violence in that same time period;
Whereas more Americans have died from gunshot wounds in the past three decades than the sum total of combat deaths in all the wars in United States history;
Whereas two-thirds of all homicides and half of all suicides are a result of gunshot wounds;
Whereas 90 percent of homicides of law enforcement officers are a result of gunshot wounds;
Whereas firearms used during a robbery are three times more likely than knives and ten times more likely than other weapons to result in the death of a victim;
Whereas 84 percent of homicides against male victims between the ages of 15 to 34 are committed with guns;
Whereas 20 percent of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former partner using firearms;
Whereas gun violence declined in the 1990s after the enactment of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993, which created a national background check system, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which placed a ten-year ban on the sale of assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines;
Whereas with the rise over time of sales in "no questions asked" transactions, 40 percent of guns sold in America are now done so without a Brady background check;
Whereas the ban on the sale of assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines expired in 2004;
Whereas in 2016, after years of decline, the number of homicides due to gunshot wounds has spiked again in cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and New Orleans;
Whereas this trend of increasing gun violence may spread;
Whereas in the 16 States that require background checks of private gun sales, there are 38 percent fewer fatal shootings of women by their partners, 39 percent fewer police murdered by firearms, 17 percent fewer firearm aggravated assaults, and 49 percent fewer suicides using firearms;
Whereas murder due to gunshot wounds climbed 25 percent in Missouri when universal background checks were lifted;
Whereas, on average, 33,880 deaths per year in the United States were due to guns; and
Whereas June 2017 would be an appropriate month to designate as National Gun Violence Awareness Month: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) supports the designation of National Gun Violence Awareness Month; and
(2) calls on Congress to enact the following legislation from the 114th Congress to address gun violence:
(A) H.R. 1475, the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act of 2017, to limit the trafficking of firearms.
(B) H.R. 1478, the Gun Violence Research Act of 2017, to allow the Department Health and Human Services to sponsor research on gun violence.
(C) H.R. 1612, the Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2017, to require that background checks be conducted on individuals purchasing guns at gun shows.
(D) Legislation to ban assault weapons.