Newtown Action Alliance Chairwoman: 'House Members Voted to Make America Less Safe'

NEWTOWN, CT — The Newtown Action Alliance has come out in strong opposition of a House vote that weakens gun-buying restrictions on veterans deemed mentally incompetent by the federal government after the chamber passed a second vote rolling back gun control legislation.

The House passed H.R.1181, which makes it possible for veterans deemed mentally incompetent to have permission to purchase weapons. In February, the House passed legislation preventing the Social Security Administration from handing over a list of 75,000 social security beneficiaries to the National Instant Criminal Background Check system.

Po Murray, the group's chairwoman, issued a statement Friday condemning those who voted to approve the measure.

The 240 Congressional House members who approved H.R. 1181 yesterday voted to make America less safe. In February, the Republican majority in the House rushed to weaken the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) by preventing the Social Security Administration (SSA) from providing a list of 75,000 SSA beneficiaries with severe mental illness to NICS.Then yesterday, the Republicans rushed a vote to wipe out 174,000 veterans and military service members who have been deemed “mentally incompetent” by the Veterans Administration (VA) Secretary from our background check system.

According to the Analysis of VA Health Care Utilization among Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation New Dawn (OND) Veterans, there are 2.7 million veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and over 640,000 of these veterans suffer from PTSD, depression, traumatic brain injury and other mental disorders. In 2014, an average of 20 Veterans died from suicide each day with approximately 66% of all Veteran deaths from suicide resulting from firearm injuries, according to the VA Suicide Prevention Program Facts about Veteran Suicide July 2016. H.R. 1181 will make it easier for our veterans in crisis to acquire firearms to add to the tragedy of veteran suicides in our nation.

These recent congressional actions to weaken the federal gun laws and the lack of congressional action on gun violence prevention after the Sandy Hook tragedy is a national disgrace. The House vote on H.R. 1181 is another gift to the National Rifle Association (NRA) to bolster gun industry profits. It is another brutal slap in the face for all the families of victims and communities directly impacted by gun violence in our nation. We continue to be outraged that the members of Congress with a responsibility to keep all Americans safe would vote to appease the gun lobby instead. These members of Congress are morally bankrupt. In Sandy Hook, we know first hand that weapons in the hands of a person with severe mental illness can devastate families and an entire community. After the Sandy Hook tragedy, we brought hundreds of heartbroken families directly impacted by gun violence to Washington D.C. to implore Congress to take action on gun violence. Despite four years of begging, the House of Representatives did not vote on a single gun violence prevention bill. These congressional representatives ignored the pleas from those who are living without their loved ones and sat idly by while over 400,000 Americans have been killed or injured by guns since the Sandy Hook shooting.

We will not stand idly by while Congress makes our nation less safe. We will continue to strongly condemn any and all congressional actions that will promote the gun lobby’s dangerous “guns everywhere” agenda and we will continue to name every member of Congress who votes with the gun lobby. We implore all Americans to join us in condemning the following 240 House Representatives who are willing to sell out 30,000 American lives a year for NRA’s high ratings.

Image: Murray meets with Sen. Richard Blumenthal during a news conference on Capital Hill in 2015. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)