Rep. Tim Kennedy is calling on his fellow congressmembers to pass “common-sense” gun regulation measures in a “bipartisan fashion” after the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on Wednesday.
The Democratic congressman said he specifically backed red flag laws and mandatory background checks, both of which are considered more moderate gun control measures. Kennedy also voiced support for increasing funding for mental health programs.
“There is a scourge and an epidemic of gun violence in America that has to be addressed,” Kennedy said at a press conference on Saturday after invoking the 2022 racially motivating mass shooting at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue. “And there is common ground: you can be for the Second Amendment and be for background checks, or be for red flag laws… That will make our streets and our communities safer across America.”
Kennedy — who represents Buffalo, Niagara Falls and some suburban communities — also condemned Kirk’s killing as “abhorrent and reprehensible.” Kirk was gunned down while speaking to students at Utah Valley University. Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah, was arrested on Friday as a suspect in the murder Kirk after a 33-hour manhunt.
“That sort of political violence should never happen in America. We are better than that,” Kennedy said. “We’re better than this, and we have to treat each other with a common humanity. We are all Americans. We are all afforded, by the Constitution, freedom of speech, and our differences are resolved at the ballot box. That is what makes us better than any other nation.”
Kirk owned guns and was a staunch gun rights supporter throughout his career.
“It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment,” Kirk said in 2023, according to the fact-checking site Snopes.
Red flag laws allow judges to temporarily order the seizure of weapons owned by individuals who may present a danger to themselves or others. Universal background check requirements mandate that gun buyers undergo a background check, regardless of how or where they purchase a firearm. Federal law currently doesn’t require unlicensed dealers — including some who sell at gun shows or in private sales — to run background checks.
President Trump and some congressional Republicans had expressed openness to a federal red flag law during Trump’s first term.
New York lawmakers have enacted both a red flag law and universal background checks at the state level. The New York Times found that New York’s red flag law was successfully used 589 times from its creation in 2019 through May 2022. A 2022 executive order from Gov. Kathy Hochul requires New York State Police to issue a temporary extreme risk protection order under that red flag law “when there is probable cause to believe the respondent is likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to himself, herself, or others.” State judges must sign off on those orders.
Kennedy told reporters that state lawmakers have “done a lot of great things” on gun control.
