U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi recently advocated for bipartisan support to fund the Centers for Disease Control to study the causes and effects of gun violence.
“Let us all agree that Democrats and Republicans should work together to fund research which would study the causes and effects of gun violence,” he said. “Every day 100 people die from gun violence in the United States of America… Gun violence is a public health crisis and should be treated as one.”
At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing focused on the public health consequences and costs of gun violence, Suozzi added that both parties should begin to support background checks and red flag laws, along with other gun violence prevention legislation.
“Research funding has worked to stem the course of other epidemics,” he said. “Why not gun violence?”
During the 116th Congress, Suozzi has co-sponsored 20 pieces of legislation which addressing the gun violence epidemic in the U.S. In addition, he voted for and cosponsored the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, as well as the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019.
“It is imperative in our capacity as lawmakers, that we do everything we can to prevent these tragedies and to ensure that we do not lose sight of the victims, survivors, families, friends, and the communities impacted by gun violence,” he said.
One of Suozzi’s constituents, Linda Beigel Schulman, lost her son, Scott Beigel, in last year’s Parkland school mass killing. On Long Island, Suozzi and Beigel Schulman have worked together to advocate for gun-violence prevention laws (including red flag laws) and to echo the message that this should be a non-partisan issue.