A Promising Step Towards a Safer America

News that President Barack Obama is supportive of efforts to pass an updated assault weapons ban and other gun safety legislation I am sponsoring is a promising step towards a safer America.

Along with Congressman Ed Perlmutter (representing Aurora, CO), I will be carrying the House version of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s updated assault weapons ban when it’s introduced in the next Congress. I am also the sponsor of the Fix Gun Checks Act to close the gunshow loophole and H.R. 308, a bill to ban high-capacity magazines like those used in almost every mass shooting in recent history.

At his press briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said of President Obama:

“He is actively supportive of, for example, Senator Feinstein’s stated intent to revive a piece of legislation that would reinstate the assault weapons ban. He supports, and would support, legislation that addresses the problem of the so-called gun show loophole. And there are other elements of gun law – gun legislation that he could support. People have talked about high-capacity gun – ammunition clips, for example, and that is something certainly that he would be interested in looking at.”

During these dark days when too many Americans are still dying every day from gun violence, it brings great hope to hear that President Obama is open to supporting our efforts to save lives through legislation like the Fix Gun Checks Act, my bill to ban high-capacity magazines and an updated assault weapons ban I’m working on with Senator Feinstein and Congressman Perlmutter.

The Second Amendment is the law of the land, but it was never intended to allow murderers to take the lives of innocent kids. The horrific shooting spree in Newtown reminds us that it’s our moral obligation as policymakers and as parents to do more to save lives and it appears that President Obama is prepared to provide the difficult leadership our country needs to pass meaningful life-saving reforms. This is a promising step towards a safer America.

I join Americans concerned about gun violence everywhere in breathing a sigh of relief to hear these hope-inspiring words coming from the White House, and support President Obama fully as he takes on one of our nation’s most complex, heartbreaking and challenging problems.

Carolyn McCarthy is the representative of New York’s Fourth Congressional District. She was first elected in 1996.