U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement after President Biden announced new executive actions to reduce gun violence today.

“In America, there is a familiar and disturbing pattern that occurs every time another horrific mass shooting occurs– when people are killed in their grocery store, their workplace, their house of worship, the crisis of gun violence punctuates our national consciousness, but all too quickly we move on. The truth is that every single day in America, people are killed by senseless, preventable gun violence, and the majority of those deaths don’t make the national headlines. The victims of this crisis are disproportionately people of color, they are victims of domestic abuse, they are our children and teens, and they are people struggling with mental health challenges– the majority of gun violence deaths are caused by suicide. And for too long, as community after community has been shattered and communities like the one I go home to have been forced to live in fear, Washington has failed to act.

“The urgency of this crisis demands action, and I am grateful that the Biden-Harris Administration is focusing their efforts on evidence-based community violence interventions, like those in my Break the Cycle of Violence Act. We know that community-based violence intervention and prevention programs are proven to work and will save lives.

“This crisis also demands action from Congress—to pass the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, to pass universal background checks, to ban weapons of war from our communities, and to act on gun licensing, which is based on the idea that if you need a license to drive a car, you should need a license to buy and possess a gun.

“We cannot wait any longer to end this national nightmare. There are proven, evidenced-based steps we can take that will save lives and it is time to act.”

Since his time as a tenant lawyer, City Council member, and mayor of Newark, Booker has seen the impact of gun violence first-hand and has been a forceful advocate for common-sense gun safety laws during his time in the Senate. Most notably, he introduced the Break the Cycle of Violence Act in 2019, which would help reduce gun violence in American cities by providing federal grants to communities for evidence-based gun violence intervention and prevention programs designed to interrupt cycles of violence.