Golden Statement on House Firearms Legislation, Negotiations in the Senate

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) released a statement this evening on his votes on two packages of firearms legislation before the House of Representatives. The bills, which stand no chance of becoming law in the current Congress, were pushed by House leadership despite promising bipartisan negotiations to address gun safety in the Senate. 

“For far too many years, in the wake of tragic violent mass shootings, both Congress and the public have reacted with the same cycle of partisan debate and advocacy for proposals that do not have sufficient support to become law. Time and again, this cycle has resulted in nothing getting done. 

“There is, however, reason to be encouraged by the momentum behind bipartisan talks underway in the U.S. Senate. We should all appreciate the example set by leaders like Senator Murphy and Senator Collins who are working hard to reach an agreement that can deliver progress where there has been so little in the past. 

“Unfortunately, House leadership has taken a different approach this week, hastily bringing to the floor two partisan legislative packages that stand no chance of becoming law. While a handful of the individual provisions in the two bills before us have the potential to garner bipartisan support, taken as a whole, the bills are too sweeping in their design and fall far short of the support necessary to become law and save lives. I regret that the House did not follow the Senate’s lead and engage in a substantive, bipartisan process that could positively contribute to a final agreement.  

“Now is not a time for bills we all know will fail. Congress should not simply focus on “doing something” but rather on doing something of substance that can pass into law and will advance the effort to prevent those with violent intent from obtaining or possessing weapons. We do not need to take sometypes of firearms away from all Americans, but instead we should work to keep all firearms out of the hands of felons and those who have demonstrated that they are at serious risk of committing harm to themselves or others. 

“For the past several weeks, my team and I have been engaged in helpful talks with the Sportsman Alliance of Maine (SAM), an organization that has played a positive role in the recent work agreed to in the Maine Legislature. I appreciate David Trahan and members of SAM’s board for taking the time to identify acceptable firearm safety solutions that work for our state. We have also valued the conversations we’ve had with the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. While we might not always agree, I have been heartened to see that their organization shares in our focus on getting beyond bills that can’t pass this Congress to making progress with substantive legislation that can.

“I am hopeful that the Senate negotiations will result in a bipartisan package that strengthens penalties for illegal straw purchases, makes targeted improvements to the National Instant Background Check System (NICS), and provides federal resources for states to invest in community and school mental health services, safe storage programs, and to implement emergency protection orders similar to Maine’s so-called ‘yellow flag’ law. We have the chance to come together and deliver solutions on firearm safety that have eluded Congress for decades —much in the way the Maine Legislature has recently. I hope we are able to do so.” - Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) 

Congressman Golden and his team have engaged in talks with leaders of both the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and the Maine Gun Safety Coalition to identify the path forward to address gun safety. Both organizations agree that now is the time to focus on serious proposals that can become law.

“As Executive Director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine (SAM), I have been working directly with both Senator Collins and Congressman Golden in the effort to advance firearms safety. While the Senate is taking a thoughtful and bipartisan approach, the House has decided to take a more divisive partisan course and put forth a bill that has no chance of becoming law. Congressman Golden's focus on addressing illegal straw purchases, funding mental health services in schools, safe storage of firearms, and federal resources for initiatives similar to Maine's bipartisan protective custody law have the best chance of gaining the widespread support needed to pass in the Congress. His vote today was the correct position.” - Dave Trahan, Executive Director, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine

“The Maine Gun Safety Coalition has worked for over 20 years to support common sense, life-saving gun safety measures at the state and federal level. Despite a seemingly unending tide of gun-involved massacres and losing over 40,000 Americans to gun violence annually, elected officials at the federal level have refused to act. We now have, in these bipartisan Senate negotiations, a very real opportunity to get some of the most important and universally supported gun safety policies into law, and the focus of Congress should be squarely on those provisions. Expanding background checks to cover juvenile history at the federal level will help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people here in Maine. Expanding access to and resources for red flag laws and similar emergency provisions will save lives and prevent suicides and mass shootings. Safe storage laws will do the same. We support every and all efforts that will become law and will save lives. We commend those lawmakers, including Representative Golden, for working towards that goal and doing so in a pragmatic and effective manner.” - Geoff Bickford, Executive Director, Maine Gun Safety Coalition

The congressman has written a Medium post for his constituents explaining his position on H.R. 2377 and each title of H.R. 7910 here.

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