Reducing Gun Violence

Floor Speech

By:  Donald Payne, Jr.
Date: April 11, 2013
Location: Washington, DC

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, the gun safety debate that we are having is not about politics or political means. It is about doing what's right by our families, protecting our children, and reducing the gun violence that persists in the streets of my district every single day. If Congress has the power to prevent some of this senseless violence, then we have a moral obligation to do so.

Background checks are an absolute must. Criminals and the mentally ill should not be able to go online or walk into a gun show and walk away with a gun.

My bill, the Safer Neighborhoods Gun Buyback Act, provides a 25 percent markup on guns traded in, creating an incentive to get the most widely used guns in crimes off of our streets.

It's not complicated. These are commonsense reforms, and the victims of gun violence and their families deserve a vote.

So I urge my Republican colleagues to bring this legislation to the floor. We owe it to the American people, and New Jersey families should not have to wait any longer for commonsense reform.