Rep. Torres Calls for Common Sense Gun Control Policies

POMONA, CA – Congresswoman Norma J. Torres (CA-35) published an op-edwith the Inland Empire Daily Bulletin commemorating the four-year anniversary of the San Bernardino shooting, which claimed 14 lives, including two of her own constituents, on December 2^nd, 2015.

Rep. Torres, who spent 17 years working as a 9-1-1 dispatcher for the Los Angeles Police Department, recounts her own experiences as she calls for Congressional action to curb gun violence:

"I've been on the other end of the line from gun violence," Congresswoman Torres writes. "I've heard the earsplitting crack of a firearm going off, and experienced the horrific moment when a desperate voice on the other end screams in pain and then goes silent. I know exactly what the price is for Congressional inaction on gun violence, and I'm disgusted to see innocent people continue to pay for it with their lives."

Rep. Torres is the author of the Multiple Firearm Sales Reporting Modernization Act, legislation that would help law enforcement crack down on gun trafficking. She is also a lead co-sponsor of legislation that would help track assembled weapons known as "ghost guns," which are currently untraceable, and has voted for numerous bills to strengthen background checks.

"The problem we have is access," Congresswoman Torres continues. "We can't legislate troubled thoughts out of someone's head, but we can pass laws that prevent a gun from winding up in that person's hands.

"Two of my constituents died four years ago in San Bernardino. At a bare minimum, we owe it to them to pass the common-sense laws that would prevent the same events from playing out, over and over. It sickens me to think that so much time has passed, and so little change has occurred."

More information about the Multiple Firearm Sales Reporting Modernization Act is available here.

Rep. Torres' op-ed, published exclusively with the Southern California News Group, is available here.

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