SAUGUS — Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) representing the 6th District of Massachusetts held a Town Hall in Saugus on Saturday, where he commented to reporters on his views on gun policy in the wake of the recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14, 2018 that killed 17 students and faculty members.
Moulton has been vocal on his gun policy positions in the wake of several recent mass shootings in the U.S. Among the aspects of gun policy on which Congressman Moulton is focused include bans on “bump stocks,” lifting federal restrictions on funding for research on the causes of gun violence, and increased background checks.
Moulton introduced a bill (H.R.3999) in October 2017 to prohibit the manufacture, possession, or transfer of “bump stocks” and similar devices.
“Bump stocks” are attachments that increase the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle. Half of the bill’s co-sponsors were Republican, and half Democrat. Moulton introduced the bill shortly after the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada that killed 58 people.
Another bipartisan bill was also introduced in the House in October 2017 (H.R.4168) focused on regulating “bump stock” devices through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Moulton, who served four tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine before being elected to Congress has been vocal on his views on what he terms “weapons of war.”
In comments to reporters on Saturday on the issue of mental health and gun violence, Moulton stated, “Look, we have a mental health care crisis in this country, where people are not getting the mental health care that we need, but don’t think that that’s just going to solve the gun problem. We also have weapons of war on our streets. You know? We can have the Second Amendment and respect the Second Amendment and get weapons of war off our streets. I had to use these weapons in combat in the Marines. They have no place in our communities or in our schools.”
An Amendment authored in 1996 by the late Congressman Jay Dickey (R-AR) mandated that federal research funding through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could not be used to advocate or promote gun control, which reduced firearm injury research funding through the CDC. In an interview at his Town Hall in Saugus on Saturday, Moulton commented on what he will be doing to renew his stated support for federal funding on research into the causes of gun violence.
“Well, look, this is like the… talk about a world where we live in right now where the facts don’t matter,” said Congressman Moulton. “Republicans in Congress have restricted even just doing basic federal research on the causes of gun violence, you know, to understand what kinds of reforms we could pass that would really make a difference. This is just like they want to ignore the facts, and that’s not how our Democracy is
