Senator Murray Helps Pass Bipartisan Gun Safety Bill, Calls to Do More to Keep Students, Families Safe

Statement

Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, voted to help pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in the Senate. This gun safety 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.

"Make no mistake, this is the most significant bill we have passed on gun violence in decades. This bill does not do everything we need to end gun violence, but doing nothing was the most extreme option on the table. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act will save lives--and that matters," said Senator Murray. "With this bill, we are finally cracking down on gun dealers skirting the rules, closing the boyfriend loophole, and taking steps to keep guns out of the hands of individuals who have no business owning a gun."

"This bill also makes critical investments in mental health services but let me be clear: our gun violence crisis is a gun problem, not a mental health problem," continued Senator Murray. "Passing the Safer Communities Act is important and meaningful progress--but we have to do more: we need universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and a stronger commitment to community violence intervention programs."

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is a bipartisan proposal that will help protect children, keep schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across the country. Specifically, this bill:

Creates a $750 million funding pot that will be available to states for the creation and administration of laws that help ensure deadly weapons are kept out of the hands of individuals a court has determined to be a significant danger to themselves or others,
Protects victims of domestic violence by adding convicted domestic violence abusers in dating relationships to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS),
Clarifies the definition of "federally licensed firearms dealer' and cracks down on criminals who illegally evade licensing requirements,
Enhances background checks for gun purchasers under the age of 21 and requires an investigative period to review juvenile and mental health records,
Creates federal straw purchasing and trafficking criminal offenses,
Provides $250 million in funding for community-based violence prevention initiatives,
Improves access to mental health services for children, youth, and families through the Medicaid program and CHIP,
Increases access to mental health services for youth and families in crisis via telehealth,
And prohibits the use of federal education funds to arm teachers in the classroom.
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.

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