Expressing support for the designation of June 2017 as “National Gun Violence Awareness Month” and calling on Congress to address gun violence.

Expressing support for the designation of June 2017 as “National Gun Violence Awareness Month” and calling on Congress to address gun violence.

Whereas summer is the season with the highest rates of gun violence in the United States;

Whereas 100,000 Americans suffer gunshot wounds in the United States every year;

Whereas approximately 89 people die and approximately 300 are injured from gun violence each day in the United States;

Whereas more than 50 percent of all gunshot victims in the United States are under 30 years old;

Whereas every 60 minutes 1 person in the United States who is under 25 years of age loses his or her life to gun violence;

Whereas 5 percent of gun dealers (approximately 3,000 dealers nationwide) supply nearly 90 percent of all crime guns that show up in the streets of the United States;

Whereas fewer than 100 people in the United States have been killed in terror attacks since September 11, 2001, but tens of thousands have been killed by gun violence in that same time period;

Whereas more people in the United States have died from gunshot wounds in the past three decades than the sum total of combat deaths in all the wars in United States history;

Whereas two-thirds of all homicides and half of all suicides in the United States are a result of gunshot wounds;

Whereas 90 percent of homicides of law enforcement officers in the United States are a result of gunshot wounds;

Whereas guns used during a robbery are 3 times more likely than knives and 10 times more likely than other weapons to result in the death of a victim;

Whereas, in the United States, 84 percent of homicides against male victims between 15 and 34 years of age are committed with guns;

Whereas 20 percent of female homicide victims in the United States are killed by a current or former partner using a gun;

Whereas gun violence in the United States declined in the 1990s after the enactment of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993, which created a national background check system, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which placed a 10-year ban on the sale of assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines;

Whereas with the rise over time of sales in “no questions asked” transactions, 40 percent of guns sold in the United States are now done so without a Brady background check;

Whereas the ban on the sale of assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines expired in 2004;

Whereas, in 2016, the number of homicides due to gunshot wounds spiked again in cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and New Orleans;

Whereas this trend of increasing gun violence may spread;

Whereas in the 16 States that require background checks of private gun sales, there are 38 percent fewer fatal shootings of women by their partners, 39 percent fewer police murdered by guns, 17 percent fewer firearm aggravated assaults, and 49 percent fewer suicides using guns;

Whereas murder due to gunshot wounds climbed 25 percent in Missouri when universal background checks were lifted;

Whereas, on average, 33,880 deaths per year in the United States were due to guns; and

Whereas it would be appropriate to designate June 2017 as “National Gun Violence Awareness Month”: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved,