Heinrich re-introduces gun safety legislation in Congress
As firearm-related deaths of young people in New Mexico increase, the state's senior senator in Congress introduced two pieces of legislation on Wednesday intended to address gun violence.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is co-sponsoring the first bill, called the GOSAFE Act, which would regulate the sale, transfer and manufacture of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms. He introduced the same legislation in 2023.
Heinrich is also co-sponsoring another bill, called the BUMP Act, which would ban the sale of 'bump stocks' and other devices or modifications that convert semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic ones.
'For too long, Congress has failed to stem the onslaught of mass shootings,' Heinrich said in a statement. 'As a sportsman and gun owner, I'm committed to upholding the laws that protect responsible gun ownership, but we must do more to prevent deadly weapons from reaching those who are all too ready to turn them against our communities.'
Heinrich introduced the legislation less than three weeks after a mass shooting in Las Cruces, New Mexico's second-largest city, which left three dead and 15 others injured. Four people have been arrested so far in connection to the shooting, including a 20-year-old and three teenagers, according to local police.
Firearm-related deaths among children and teenagers in the U.S. increased by 50% between 2019 and 2023, Stateline reports. In 2023, firearms remained the leading cause of death among young people in the U.S. for the fourth year in a row, according to the latest mortality data released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In New Mexico, 33 firearm-related deaths occurred among people under 18 in 2023, a 24% increase from 2019, the data show. The state experienced a slight decrease in 2021, but the number of deaths increased in 2022 and 2023, the data show.
Youth gun deaths in the US have surged 50% since 2019
Miranda Viscoli, co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, applauded Heinrich for introducing the bills in a statement on Tuesday, saying he is 'leading the charge for gun violence prevention in New Mexico and across the country.'
'The GOSAFE Act will help make our communities safer from gun violence,' Viscoli said in a statement. 'These highly lethal firearms have no place in civilian hands.'
The BUMP Act, Viscoli added, will 'bolster our legal framework that makes it possible for law enforcement to address the epidemic of violence that New Mexicans have experienced through guns modified to be fully automatic.'
A single legislative committee approved a similar proposal to change New Mexico state law in the most recent legislative session, but the bill never received a vote in either chamber of the New Mexico Legislature.
Heinrich said the bills represent a continuation of the work Congress did by passing the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which enabled licensed firearms dealers to check FBI records to see if a gun offered for sale was stolen, mandated checks of juvenile criminal history and mental health records of people under 21 trying to buy a gun, and created new crimes for 'straw purchases' of guns on behalf of someone who isn't allowed to have one, among other reforms.
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