Senator Murray Statement on Gun Safety Compromise Legislation

ICYMI: Senator Murray Calls for Action on Gun Safety on Senate Floor Following Shooting in Uvalde – MORE HERE

Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued the following statement on the newly released gun safety legislation by the bipartisan working group. The package includes provisions closing the “boyfriend loophole,” enhanced background checks for gun purchasers under the age of 21, a prohibition on using federal education funding to purchase firearms or train in their use, school safety investments, investments in mental health access in schools and telehealth, and incentives for states to pass and administer red flag laws.

“This package is not everything we need to end gun violence – not by a mile, but the most extreme option on the table is doing nothing at all. This legislation provides some meaningful steps we can take to save lives and keep kids and families safe from gun violence—that matters,” said Senator Murray. “Closing the boyfriend loophole at the federal level is an important step we can take to protect people – especially women – from abusive partners.

“And the investments in access to mental health will help stem the mental health crisis our country is experiencing,” continued Senator Murray. “But let me be clear: we have to treat America’s gun violence crisis as a gun problem, not a mental health problem – we need universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and more investment in community violence intervention programs. With that in mind, I am continuing to work on a bipartisan package through the Senate HELP Committee to tackle America’s mental health and substance use disorder crises.”

As Chair of the HELP Committee and a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray has repeatedly fought to invest federal resources in gun violence prevention research—notably, in 2020 Murray helped usher in the first federal funding for gun violence prevention research in decades and has successfully fought to sustain that funding every year since. Murray has been a strong supporter of common-sense gun safety reforms. For years, Senator Murray has pushed for popular reforms such as universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, extreme risk protection orders, and more. 

While Washington state already has many of these measures in place at the state level, Senator Murray has made clear that the epidemic of gun violence in America cannot be fully addressed without federal action. Senator Murray has cosponsored important firearm legislation proposals in this Congress. Murray is a cosponsor of the Background Check Expansion Act, the Assault Weapons Ban Act, and the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act (ERPO is another term used for red flag laws). Senator Murray also applauded President Biden’s decision to treat ghost guns as the deadly weapons they are and is a cosponsor of the 3D Printed Gun Safety Act. Following the Uvalde school shooting, Senator Murray delivered a speech on the Senate floor, calling on Republicans to answer the call of the American people and come to the table to make progress on gun violence prevention.