Jared Moskowitz calls for field hearing in Parkland on gun violence, red flag laws

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz is calling for a congressional field hearing in Parkland to discuss gun violence and how doing something about the problem isn’t the political death sentence some Republicans seem to believe it is.

In a letter to Republican U.S. Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan,  who respectively chair the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, Moskowitz pitched the hearing as a potential springboard for constructive, bipartisan change.

“We no longer need moments of silence; we need moments of action to protect our children, our communities, and our nation from gun violence,” he wrote. “I refuse to think nothing can get done. This field hearing can serve as a model to start somewhere, to start a conversation, to get something done.”

The Parkland setting is appropriate for the message Moskowitz is trying to get across. In the aftermath of the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida lawmakers passed the state’s first gun control bill in years, raising the age for long gun purchases to 21 and instituting red flag laws that enable police to seize firearms from people too dangerous to responsibly possess them.

Since then, Moskowitz wrote, the bill’s provisions have “been used in Florida over 9,000 times and helped save countless lives.”

“It’s important to note that this legislation was passed in Florida under a Republican-led state Legislature and signed into law by a Republican Governor,” he wrote.

“I saw in person the aftermath of my high school where a mass shooting occurred. I saw what happens to a community when someone who is mentally unfit has access to a gun and can easily buy one, and I also saw that Republicans could enact ‘red flag laws’ and go on to win re-election.”

He added, “Guns have become the No. 1 killer of children. Parents worry as they send their kids to school, to the mall, or the movies. It’s a fear all parents live with. Public places once considered safe are now targets for gun violence. I request that the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and House Judiciary Committee hold a field hearing in Parkland, Florida to learn about the success of ‘red flag laws.’”

Of note, a push this year by GOP state lawmakers in Florida to lower the age back to 18 died last week in the waning days of Session. But they succeeded in passing a related bill to prohibit financial institutions from applying special codes to purchases of firearms, ammunition and related products, a move that could reduce the efficacy of the state’s red flag laws.

Moskowitz’s letter — which he cc’d to Democratic U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Jamie Raskin, the ranking members of the committees — is the latest in several attempts the freshman Congressman has made to reach across the political divide.

Late last month, he co-founded the Congressional Sneaker Caucus with Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon to boost cooperation between Republicans and Democrats with a penchant for sneakers.

He’s also been taking some of his Washington colleagues to lunch. Since February, he’s broken bread with four members of the GOP.

“We must show the American people that you can adamantly disagree with your neighbors and still act normal,” he said at the time. “The American people didn’t send us here to bicker just to increase our Twitter following — they sent us to D.C. to produce solutions to their problems. We don’t have to agree. But if we can find common ground that’s good progress.”

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