WASHINGTON — Today, following Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of her decision to step down from House Democratic leadership in the upcoming 118th Congress, Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, issued the following statements:
“The gun safety movement owes an enormous debt to Speaker Pelosi, who has done as much as anyone in American history to protect our nation from the scourge of gun violence,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “I’ve had the privilege of knowing Speaker Pelosi for decades, so I can say with confidence that while she may be stepping down from Congressional leadership, she will continue to do everything in her considerable power to help America live up to its highest ideals.”
“Speaker Pelosi has been a trailblazer, a masterful legislator, and simply the best to ever do it,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “Her steadfast leadership and commitment to protecting our communities and our children has led to historic progress on gun safety, which will serve as a foundation for continued success. Speaker Pelosi has supported me and Moms Demand Action from the birth of our organization, and we look forward to working with her on this critical work in her next chapter.”
Throughout her 35 years serving in the House of Representatives, including over 20 years in House Democratic leadership and as the first-ever woman to serve as Speaker of the House, Speaker Pelosi has been a fierce advocate for gun safety and led the charge on historic legislation to address gun violence. Speaker Pelosi was the first-ever recipient of Everytown’s “Gun Sense Lawmaker of the Year” award in recognition of her unparalleled leadership on gun safety at the federal level.
Earlier this year, Speaker Pelosi played a key role in the historic passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major federal gun safety law to pass Congress in nearly 26 years, which establishes an enhanced background check process for gun buyers under age 21, provides federal funding to implement state extreme risk protection laws, clarifies existing law on what it means to be “engaged in the business” of selling firearms, disarms domestic abusers by addressing the dating partner loophole, and funds community violence intervention programs, among other items. Speaker Pelosi also oversaw the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which included a critical gun safety provision, and the passage of the strongest gun safety appropriations package in history.
Under Speaker Pelosi’s leadership, the 117th Congress has the strongest gun safety record in history, passing the Protecting Our Kids Act, a suite of gun safety legislation that includes raising the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles, establishing a requirement to securely store firearms at home, and limiting access to high-capacity magazines, a public safety package that included the Break the Cycle of Violence Act to fund evidence-informed community violence intervention programs, a bill to create a federal extreme risk law and support and incentivize states with these laws already on the books, a bill to require background checks on all gun sales, a bill to regulate assault weapons, a bill to address the Charleston loophole, and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act— all of which President Biden has supported.
