MORE Warner BS:



I wanted to reach out to you with an update on my work to address gun violence. You may remember that a few years back we passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act , the most seismic piece of legislation to curb the gun violence epidemic in the last few decades.

Thanks to this law, the Biden administration announced a policy this week that will help close the “gun show loophole ,” which previously allowed thousands of unlicensed firearms dealers to sell guns online or at gun shows without requiring background checks. Dangerous individuals have bought guns using the loophole and gone on to perpetrate terrible mass shootings, including at Columbine High School and in Midland and Odessa, Texas.

Closing the loophole is a completely commonsense policy that has been 25 years in the making – even former President George W. Bush endorsed it. This is another great step towards making our communities safer by keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. I’m proud to have strongly supported the law that made it possible, and I know we’ll continue to see more public safety funding delivered to Virginia as a result of it, too.

While these policies will never bring back the thousands of lives we’ve lost due to the scourge of gun violence, we will forever remember the lives they led and the people they touched. At this time of year, my heart is always particularly heavy remembering the terrible mass shooting at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. With their memory – and the memory of the thousands of others we’ve lost too soon – forever in our hearts and on our minds, I reject the idea of merely offering thoughts and prayers. I’ll continue working to enact meaningful changes like the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act , pushing for an assault weapons ban , and pursuing a range of solutions to keep our schools, streets, places of worships, and homes safer from gun violence.

If you want to get in touch with me about gun violence or another issue that is important to you, I encourage you to reach out to me using the form on my Senate website. You can also follow me on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , or Threads . I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,