Today, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) issued the following statement amid the news that multiple students and teachers were shot and killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“We have gone another day where children in this country are being murdered because we are allowing assault style rifles to legally be put into the wrong hands without appropriate background checks.
I am a mom of two boys and there hasn’t been a day since Sandy Hook occurred that I – along with mothers and fathers across this country – haven’t wondered whether it will be my child murdered today. In 2020, more than 4,300 children were killed by guns, as firearms incidents overtook auto accidents as the leading cause of death among children in the U.S.
Gun violence has hit home here in Iowa as we continue to reflect on two shootings that killed and injured children near East High School and the teens who were celebrating prom night here in Des Moines earlier this year.
To help save our children, the House has passed two bipartisan bills to close loopholes that allow licensed gun sales without appropriate background checks and extend the background check period from three business days to ten.
Reasonable background checks are not too much to ask, which is why today I am calling on our Senators to step up and swiftly act on background check legislation to defend the people of this country.
My heart is broken as I pray for the children and innocent victims in Uvalde following this unspeakable tragedy. We cannot accept this epidemic of gun violence as our reality.”
