Press Release
12/20/07Third Way Applauds Passage of Major Gun Bill
Third Way Vice President for Policy Jim Kessler issued the following statement regarding the passage of the first major gun safety law since 1994 – a bill to improve the criminal background check on gun buyers:
“Six years ago, our predecessor group Americans for Gun Safety issued a report showing that our faulty criminal background check system made it possible for criminals, domestic abusers and the severely mentally ill to get guns. We set out to try to unify historic opponents on the gun issue behind legislation that would make the background check system truly instant and accurate. We reached out to the gun safety leaders in Congress – Charles Schumer (D-NY) in the Senate and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) in the House. We talked to congressional gun rights leaders Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) and Representative John Dingell (D-MI). We even used emissaries to reach out to the National Rifle Association. Several months later, these gun debate foes joined together with us to introduce “The Our Lady of Peace Act” – named after a Long Island church where a mentally deranged man went on a killing spree after erroneously passing a background check. It took nearly six years and, tragically, the nation’s worst mass shooting at Virginia Tech, but the legislation that we originally conceived is finally on its way to the President.
“We thank all of those involved in the fight – Rep. McCarthy, Rep. Dingell, Sen. Schumer, Sen. Craig, and, dare we say it, the NRA. We are delighted that Congress has finally acted to shore up the background checks system for gun purchases.”
The original report, ‘Broken Records: How America’s Faulty Background Check System Allows Criminals to Get Guns,’ can be found on the Third Way website (www.third-way.com).
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Contact:
Sean Gibbons (202) 384-1730
Jill Pike (202) 384-1708