Friend,

In the aftermath of the tragedies in Uvalde, Texas, and Highland Park, Illinois -- and the dozens of mass shootings around the country since then -- Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first meaningful legislation to address our nation's gun violence epidemic in nearly three decades.

As I said at the time, the bill was both a major victory and a narrow response to this crisis. I believe additional action is urgently needed, and because I believe that representation begins with listening, I asked what you thought Congress should focus on next.

Hundreds of you responded, and I'm grateful for your engagement. Perhaps most notably, not one respondent thought we should do nothing at all. The proposals that garnered the most support included universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole, reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban, and raising the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic weapon.

I agree.

The U.S. House of Representatives has repeatedly passed legislation on a bipartisan basis to require background checks on nearly all gun sales. Several provisions in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act -- including one to crack down on straw purchasers -- will move us closer in that direction, as analysts have pointed out.

Additionally, I and 211 of my colleagues in the House are co-sponsors of HR 1808, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021, which would essentially reinstate the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban that led directly to a decline in gun deaths by such weapons. I'm pleased that we will soon be voting on this legislation as well.

Of course, passing legislation in the House is ultimately meaningless without sufficient support in the Senate. Despite these proposals having broad, bipartisan support from the public, we are short of the votes needed to get them to the president's desk.

I know how frustrating that is to hear, especially when the same is true with everything from protecting voting rights to addressing climate change. But those standing in that way of progress amassed their power by showing up and voting in midterm elections, and now we must do the same.

As we approach the final 100 days of this momentous election, please keep that in mind, and encourage your family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, and anyone else you can that nothing good comes by not voting. Holding our majority in the House and expanding our majority in the Senate is the only way we can pass the initiatives above and the many others that are stalled right now in the 50/50 Senate.

Let's get to work.

-Dean

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