Rep. Torres Holds Gun Violence Community Roundtable
ONTARIO, CA - Today, Rep. Norma J. Torres (D-Pomona) convened a roundtable meeting in Pomona with activists, community and religious leaders, and families impacted by gun violence to share ideas for how to address the growing gun violence epidemic. This meeting was part of the National Day of Action on Gun Violence Prevention where House Democrats across the country held events to build on the momentum from last week’s historic 26 hour sit-in on the House floor.
“Last week, House Democrats took to the House floor, because we were tired of Congress holding moments of silence to express our sympathy and grief after mass shootings, then doing absolutely nothing to prevent another tragedy from happening again,” said Torres. “We haven’t been allowed to hold a single hearing on this issue, let alone take a vote on common sense, widely-supported legislation. We decided enough is enough.”
Today’s meeting was held at the Macedonia Baptist Church – Community Service Center. In attendance were representatives from the Brady Campaign Pomona Valley Chapter, the San Bernardino Diocese, Tri City Mental Health, NAACP Pomona Valley Chapter, Cal Poly Pomona, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, City of Pomona, Fontana Unified School District, Claremont Unified School District, and others.
“Across the country, Brady's supporters are leading demonstrations at congressional district offices, keeping up the fight to reduce gun violence,” said David Draper, President of the Brady Campaign Pomona Valley Chapter, who attended today’s event. “We are demanding that lawmakers, upon returning to work in Washington, allow a vote on legislation to expand Brady background checks to all gun sales and keep guns out of dangerous hands.”
“There is no question we have a problem, but the only way to solve it is to come together and have a real dialogue about the issues,” continued Torres. “Today’s meeting was an important opportunity to build on the incredible groundswell of support we saw last week by bringing together people who have long been working to address gun violence and hear straight from them what they think we should do to address the problem and keep the community engaged.”
Rep. Torres represents California’s 35th congressional district, serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, and is a member of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. She previously worked for 18 years as a 911 dispatcher and during the sit-in, shared her story of hearing an eleven year old girl shot to death.
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