Support Enactment of Comprehensive Background Checks, Ban the Sale of Bump Stocks and Related Devices and Prevent the Arming of Teachers in Schools
Adopted at the in 2018
WHEREAS, 2017 saw a total of 346 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive; and
WHEREAS, on October 1, 2017 a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, leaving 58 people dead and 851 injured in the nation's largest mass shooting incident; and
WHEREAS, in 2018 school shootings averaged to an estimated one per week, according to a CNN report; and
WHEREAS, on February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida resulting in 17 people killed and 17 more wounded, making it one of the world's deadliest school shootings; and
WHEREAS, the shooting sparked a national movement led by the survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, including the March for Our Lives, a demonstration in support of stricter gun control held in Washington, D.C. and over 800 cities throughout the United States and around the world; and
WHEREAS, the shooting at the San Bruno, California office of You Tube marked the 58th mass shooting of 2018; and
WHEREAS, rather than debate gun legislation that respects state and local restrictions, Congress has advanced dangerous legislation that expands the access to firearms, eases transportation and possession across state lines and facilitates access to silencers; and
WHEREAS, the President made the ill-advised proposal encouraging states to train teachers and staff to carry firearms, which would actually distract educators from their core purpose and introduce additional, potentially dangerous, elements in our schools,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The U. S. Conference of Mayors calls on Congress to take decisive action to protect our cities from the ongoing threat of gun violence; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Congress oppose dangerous legislation such as the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, the Sportsman's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act and the Hearing Protection Act that expand the ability to access, possess and transport guns and preempt local laws that restrict access; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Congress and the President move decisively to enact comprehensive background checks; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Congress and the President move decisively to ban the sale of bump stocks and related devices that accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic weapon; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Congress block any attempts to arm teachers in schools and affirm that a teacher's role is to teach.