Letters: Senate must protect Americans from gun violence, Casey says

ISSUE | GUN CONTROL

Casey: Senate must take action

On Monday, the U.S. Senate defaulted on its basic obligation to keep America safe by rejecting commonsense gun legislation to expand background checks for firearms purchases ("Gridlock on gun violence," Tuesday).

Universal background checks and a ban of those on the terrorist watch list from buying guns represent the bare minimum steps the Senate should take to address gun violence. Some senators believe the only thing our nation can do to confront gun violence, which killed 33,646 Americans in 2014, is enforce existing law. I refuse to accept that. That's not who we are.

I'll continue to push for commonsense reform to keep the people of Pennsylvania and the nation safe. The victims of gun violence, including large-scale tragedies such as Newtown, Conn., and Orlando as well as the daily crisis of shootings in cities in Pennsylvania and around the country, deserve better.

Every day, an average of 91 Americans are killed with guns and robbed of their futures. Members of the Senate should know that their condolences are not enough; only action will meet the test of justice.

|Bob Casey, U.S. senator, Scranton

Toomey voted against tougher measures

Sen. Pat Toomey voted against expanding background checks and making it tougher for potential terrorists to buy guns. Yet 92 percent of Americans support expanding background checks, and 85 percent support banning people on federal watch lists from buying guns, according to a CNN poll taken after the mass shooting in Orlando. Toomey doesn't represent us.

After the attack in Orlando, which killed one young woman from Philadelphia and seriously injured another, Toomey stood on the Senate floor and urged his colleagues to take action against gun violence. But when his bill to expand background checks to cover sales at gun shows and other forums failed to earn support from either party, he voted Monday against two Democratic bills to expand background checks and bar firearms purchases by anyone on a federal terrorist watch list, calling them too broad. He did support two alternative Republican bills that also were voted down.

Toomey, among others, followed the gun lobbyists and ignored the people.

|Art Haywood, Pennsylvania senator, Fourth District, Philadelphia

Obama's 'common sense' a two-way street

President Obama said that allowing potential victims to be as well armed as their would-be murderers "defies all common sense." If he really believes that, why is he using taxpayer dollars to provide 24/7 protection for himself, his wife, and his daughters by Secret Service agents armed with assault weapons?

|Carol Golden, Philadelphia