Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (March 4, 2025)—Today, Rep. Lucy McBath, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, delivered opening remarks at a hearing on Republican efforts to dismantle proven gun safety laws and make communities less safe.

Below are Ranking Member McBath’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at today’s hearing.

WATCH Ranking Member McBath’s opening statement.

Ranking Member Lucy McBath
Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance
Hearing on “The Right to Self Defense”
March 4, 2025

Good morning, and thank you to our witnesses for joining us.

Every single day, more than 110 Americans die from gun violence; and more than 110 families have to confront their worst fear: that they have lost a person who means everything to them.

I came to Congress because one of those families was my family. In November 2012, I got the call that no parent should ever face—that my son had been taken by gun violence.

My son Jordan would now have just celebrated his 30th birthday and every day, I think about the life he should be living—I think about the millions of American lives lost or changed by preventable gun violence. I know I am not alone.

For decades, survivors and those who aspire to a safer tomorrow have been working together to bring an end to gun violence. And in June of 2022, after more mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo, we passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act—the first comprehensive gun violence prevention bill in nearly 30 years. 

For the past two and a half years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act has kept guns out of the hands of dangerous people, like gun traffickers and domestic abusers. It has invested in improving mental health resources, both in our schools and throughout our communities.

It has supported state and local efforts to reduce gun violence, including funding state crisis intervention programs.

Since the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, there have been 3,500 fewer murders. That’s more than three thousand families who never had to receive the devastating news that would change their lives forever. Those are families with a son or daughter who did come home from school, with a mom who did make it back from running an errand or attending a prayer service, or with a dad who did come home after working the late shift. In just two years, there are more than 3,000 families who didn’t have to face the pain of losing a loved one to murder—the two largest single-year decreases in murder ever recorded. We have the ability to keep that momentum going.

And it’s not just reducing murder. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act has helped bring violent crime down to an almost 50-year low without infringing on the constitutional rights of a single responsible gun owner or gun seller.

Given this incredible progress, it is no wonder that law enforcement supports the work we have done and the improvements that continue to be made because of this historic law. 

In 2023, the National Sheriffs’ Association called on Congress to appropriate $200 million for the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative, a program that we doubled in size by passing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. As the Sheriffs’ letter explains, this funding supports law enforcement mentorship, life skills, and vocational training programs.

This work is making all of us safer and changing lives for the better, bridging gaps and encouraging trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

Similarly, last year, we received a letter from Police Leaders for Community Safety in support of a provision of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that requires those who sell guns predominantly to earn a profit to obtain a license and conduct background checks. Police Leaders for Community Safety explained that this provision prevents felons and other prohibited purchasers from evading background checks and enhances public safety.

We know that we are still losing far too many lives to gun violence, violent crime, and suicide. But the solution is clear—we must continue the progress of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and build on it.

Our colleagues want to take us back to a time where there were more guns in our communities that might end up in the hands of people who should not have them.

But we know what is at stake, and that is American lives. At the end of a long day, we all just want our loved ones to come home safe. That our husband or wife will walk through the door, whether they work in an office, a school, a hospital, or a police precinct. We want to tuck our children into bed each and every night. We want our mom, our dad, and our best friends to be kept safe from harm and able to speak to us on the other line of a telephone. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is making sure more people share these important moments together, and that fewer families face heartbreak when those moments abruptly stop.

I once again call on my colleagues to stand with us in working together to end gun violence.

Before I yield back, I ask unanimous consent to submit into the record a letter from the National Sheriffs’ Association in support of community violence intervention funding.

And a letter from Police Leaders for Community Safety in support of the Engaged in the Business provision of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Thank you, I yield back.