FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 17, 2013

Statement from Speaker Silver on U.S. Senate's Failure to Pass Background Check Legislation


The United States Senate's failure to expand background checks on firearms sales is a grave injustice to the American people. Communities across our nation are losing mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, neighbors, and friends due to senseless gun violence. We cannot sit idly by and allow gun violence to ruin the fabric of our communities.

The inability to pass this common sense measure is unacceptable, and those who refused to adopt this amendment have ignored the will of the American people. I am proud to say that New York did not waver under the pressure of the gun lobby and enacted some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, but we need our federal government to act as well. Requiring background checks is a common sense measure that will help to eradicate the scourge of gun violence.