Letter to the Editor: League of Women Voters Position on Gun Control

To the Editor:

The shooting of school children at the Sandy Hook School is, unfortunately, just one of a string of horrific incidents where an assailant used assault weapons to indiscriminately kill and maim.  We urgently need common sense solutions to the gun violence that is plaguing our nation.

The members of the League of Women Voters of Berkeley Heights, New Providence and Summit urge all elected officials - and at all levels of government - to work together to adopt measures that will ban assault weapons.  We need laws that place limits on magazine size and close the gun show loopholes so that buyers of guns everywhere must undergo thorough background checks.  There should be no special protection of the gun industry.

Our position on gun control is based on a nationwide League of Women Voters consensus reached by the League's more than 140,000 members and supporters in 1990. Based on this position, we have acted in support of the assault weapons ban, legislation requiring all dealers to run criminal background checks at gun shows, and in opposition to laws that grant special protection for the gun industry.

We urge fellow citizens in our communities to join with us to lobby for the passage of laws that better protect all citizens from violence by weapons of assault.

Sincerely,

Sharon Davis, President

The League of Women Voters,

Berkeley Heights, New Providence, Summit