Daily Local, 5/27/2022- Houlahan pushing for commonsense gun legislation
By Staff
U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-6th of Easttown, said Thursday she will continue to push for sensible gun law legislation, despite her colleagues’ refusal to pass gun violence prevention legislation.
“There are no right words in a moment like this because words are not what our children and families need — what they need and deserve is action,” she said. “Parents, teachers, students, and all Americans are gutted and angry that this keeps happening, and they’re right to feel that way.
“Our divisions have paralyzed us as a nation, and it’s the children who are paying the price with their lives. We owe it to them, to this country we love, to recommit ourselves as relentless advocates for reducing the scourge of gun violence. Sadly, there are too many elected officials who have accepted this uniquely American tragedy as inevitable. But we can prevent this. We can prevent town names from being forever remembered by bloodshed and tragedy; first responders from walking into carnage; parents shrieking after learning their child didn’t survive. And we have the roadmap to do it.”
Houlahan said recent polls have found that 90% of Americans want universal background checks and commonsense reform.
“The refusal of Republicans in the Senate to consider this legislation is, in no uncertain terms, deadly,” she said. “I stand ready, again, to work with my colleagues on action of any kind and show our students and educators we care. To the small number of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle willing to find a way forward, thank you.”
Houlahan, a third-generation military veteran who has publicly supported the Second Amendment, said the time is long past to pass common-sense gun legislation.
“I am a former educator who stood at the front of a classroom, so I know what it’s like to worry about my students,” she said. “Simply put, supporting the Second Amendment and passing commonsense reforms to protect our children are not mutually exclusive.”
The U.S. ended 2021 with 693 mass shootings, per the Gun Violence Archive. The year before saw 611. And 2019 had 417. As for school shootings, according to national statistics, there have been 27 so far in the United States this year alone.
“One thing we know for sure is that we must do something,” Houlahan said. “I charge many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to ask themselves: what message are we sending to bad actors, who are watching our actions right now, when 19 children are slaughtered, and we do nothing? I’ll tell you what message we are sending: our silence makes us complicit.”
Houlahan is running for reelection against Republican Guy Ciarrocchi.