Rep. Payne, Jr. Votes for Senate Bill to Protect Children and Prevent Criminals from Obtaining Guns

Media Contact:  Patrick Wright   --  Patrick.Wright@mail.house.gov

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. voted for The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act today to establish stronger gun control measures, protect victims of domestic violence, and create stronger protections from gun violence in American schools.  The bill, S. 2938, allocates $750 million to fund state efforts to create and enforce laws that keep criminals and domestic terrorists from obtaining deadly weapons.  It adds convicted domestic violence abusers in dating relationships (i.e. boyfriends or girlfriends) to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to protect victims of domestic abuse from further harm.  In addition, it provides $300 million to strengthen school safety measures, support school violence prevention efforts, and provide training to school personnel and students on how to handle violent events.    

“I supported this bill because it provides some common-sense solutions to curb gun violence in our communities,” said Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr.  “It keeps guns out of the hands of criminals, increases school protections against gun violence, and protects victims of domestic abuse.  But I hope this is the start of more common-sense legislation and not the end.  We need to increase the purchase age for guns to 21 years old at least and ban assault weapon sales nationwide.  We need to make the creation of ghost guns illegal.  Then we need to institute a nationwide gun buyback program, like the one I introduced, to get guns off the streets.  These actions will help us provide safer communities for all Americans.”   

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