MAYOR HEADS TO D.C. TO URGE "COMMON-SENSE" GUN LAWS

This notice issued today from the township:

Mayor De Luca Heads to Washington D.C. to Demand that

Members of Congress Pass Common-Sense Gun Laws

January 16^th Mayors Advocacy Day Led by National, Bipartisan Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition

Maplewood – Mayor Victor De Luca announced today that he will join 60 other mayors from across the country as they descend on Washington, DC, and advocate for common-sense gun laws. Mayor De Luca is a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a national bipartisan coalition of more than 800 mayors with nearly a million grassroots supporters.

“We will bring a message from the grassroots, from the moms and dads and sisters and brothers across America, that federal action is needed now to stem the tide of gun violence,” said De Luca. “New Jersey’s Congressional delegation needs to be on board with this effort.”

In the wake of the horrific Newtown elementary school shooting, Mayors Against Illegal Gun sent a letter to the White House and all members of the U.S. Congress with three concrete proposals to prevent gun violence in the United States. These include:

·        Requiring background checks for all U.S. gun sales, including the millions of “private” sales conducted over the internet, at guns shows and in other locales.

·        Enacting common-sense restrictions on the purchase and transfer of military style weapons and high capacity magazines.

·        Making gun trafficking a federal crime and establishing enhanced penalties for kingpin gun traffickers.

One key bill, the Fix Gun Checks Act (H.R. 137) has already been re-introduced in Congress, and several more are scheduled for introduction in the coming weeks.

Mayor De Luca will ask his representatives in Congress to become original sponsors of H.R. 137 (or the Senate companion), which requires background checks for all sales and also improves the reporting of relevant mental health records into the nation’s gun background check database.