Brown calls for stricter gun laws in the wake of tragic school shooting
State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown, D-Phila., has been one of the leading voices advocating stronger gun laws since taking office, and she joined the rest of the nation in grief on Friday as the news of yet another mass shooting broke.
"To call the events that transpired in Newtown a tragedy would be an understatement," Brown said. "The mass carnage that took place on Friday can only be described as 26 different tragedies perpetrated by one individual with access to a number of powerful weapons."
"I want to honor the victims with condolences, but then when I think again, are condolences really what is needed," she asked. "The more I think about these tragedies, the more I conclude that we, as a country, should have honored the lives of those children and educators well before Friday's atrocities unfolded by adopting tougher gun control laws to better protect them and every other citizen."
Since joining the General Assembly in 2009, Brown has attempted to open up the discourse on gun control on several occasions, but her attempts were met with unwillingness and indifference each time.
"These atrocities may have occurred more than 150 miles away, but they happened right here in our backyards," Brown said. "This type of mindless taking of life, with such relative ease, should serve as a wake-up call to all Americans and the elected officials who represent them."
"Let us honor the children who lost their lives by taking practical steps to tackle gun control," she continued. "We can start by demanding the reporting of lost and stolen guns and closing loopholes that allow guns to proliferate through licenses granted by surrounding states."
The suggestions that Brown gave have been made in a number of gun control measures introduced in the past. It is expected that similar legislation will be reintroduced early in the 2013-14 legislative session along with new legislation inspired by the shootings in Newtown.
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