Washington, DC – With 2023 on track to become the deadliest year of mass shootings in recent American history, Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) co-led 66 of their House and Senate colleagues in a letter to President Biden urging his Administration to use every tool at its disposal to combat gun violence. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) joined Rep. Titus in co-leading the letter, along with Senators Warren (D-MA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
The letter outlines five distinct actions the Biden Administration can take under its executive authority, leveraging the agency rulemaking and review process, as well as the government’s purchasing power, to reduce the flow of weapons and address this year’s disturbing trend of increased mass shootings.
“A majority of Americans believe we need meaningful gun violence prevention legislation; yet House Republicans have blocked commonsense reforms that would protect our communities from mass shootings and save lives. We can’t let them stand in the way of keeping our constituents safe, which is why I’m urging President Biden to continue taking strong action under his executive authority to stop gun violence. With this year’s mass shootings on track to be the deadliest in recent history, we’re obligated to use every tool at our disposal to bring these tragedies to an end,” said Rep. Titus.
“We commend the important steps your Administration has recently taken on this issue, including steps to expand the scope of dealers required to conduct background checks, increase public access to information about dealers who violate the law, and more. Nevertheless, the American people expect the federal government to use every possible tool to reduce gun violence,” wrote Rep. Titus and her colleagues in the letter. “With Republicans in Congress blocking further legislative action to reduce gun violence, we urge you to leverage the full scope of your executive authority on this issue.”
Earlier this year, Rep. Titus reintroduced the Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act, which has now earned more than 110 House cosponsors, and co-led introduction of the Keep Americans Safe Act to ban high-capacity magazines. She represents the Las Vegas Strip, where the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history occurred in 2017 at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, and is also a member of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.
Read the full text of the letter here.