Congressional candidate Goutam U. Jois calls for tighter gun laws, slams Congressional inaction

April 23 – Democratic congressional candidate Goutam U. Jois on Monday renewed his calls for stricter gun laws, including a ban on AR-15s, following another gun massacre over the weekend that left four dead in Tennessee.

Jois, who has won praise from gun control advocates for his outspokenness on gun control, said congressional inaction – and lack of courage on both sides of the political aisle – has created an environment where mass shootings are becoming more common.

“We shouldn’t be living in a world where we resign ourselves to the inevitability of mass shootings,” said Jois. “We know how to prevent gun violence: we need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. But we haven’t had the political will to make progress and in fact we’ve been moving backwards.”

Jois is vying to replace Leonard Lance, who has an “A-” rating from the NRA. In a crowded Democratic primary, Jois has also been the most vocal on pushing for gun violence prevention measures. He noted that if Democrats were not willing to stand up for the victims of gun violence, they were no different than the GOP.

“We aren’t going to solve this problem with triangulating, poll testing, or falling back on talking points about ‘responsible gun owners,” said Jois.

Jois continues to campaign across New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, meeting with anti-violence advocates to stand for tighter gun laws. The Democratic primary is June 5, and Jois has gained national media coverage for his efforts to unseat Lance and become the first Democrat to serve in the district in nearly four decades.