Carper Statement on Release of Bipartisan Gun Safety Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) released the following statement after the bipartisan working group on gun reform legislation published text of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — a commonsense gun safety bill to end the nearly three decades-long congressional gridlock on gun legislation:

“The bipartisan gun safety deal reached this week by Senators Murphy and Cornyn breaks a nearly three-decade impasse in Congress and demonstrates that Democrats and Republicans can still work together to make progress on issues of critical importance, instead of accepting gridlock. Commonsense reforms to our nation’s gun laws are supported by an overwhelming majority of the American public — including gun owners — and this deal is an important first step after decades of inaction on this front. By strengthening the criminal background check system and making it harder for dangerous individuals to possess dangerous weapons, this bipartisan legislation will save lives.

“In addition, I’m grateful that this package includes bipartisan legislation that I’ve worked on for months with two of my Senate colleagues across the aisle — John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — in order to make much needed investments in telehealth and school-based mental health care services. Ensuring that schools can provide critical services for students, like access to mental health care at school-based wellness centers, has been a priority of mine since I served as governor of Delaware and chairman of the National Governors Association. Now, as a member of the U.S. Senate, I’m delighted to join with two of my Republican colleagues in expanding and enhancing these services nationwide.

“While this bill doesn’t include everything we need to end the epidemic of gun violence, it’s a good start. Simply put, we cannot let this moment pass us by. And going forward, we must continue to work together in the days to come to ensure that this bill makes it to President Biden’s desk expeditiously, and then keep working together to further reduce gun violence and make our schools and communities safer still.”

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