Durbin Statement on Supreme Court Decision to Strike Down Longstanding Gun Law as Nation Grapples with Record-High Gun Violence

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen:

“Every day, parents across America are burying children they have lost to gun violence.  And yet, as our nation still mourns the horrific massacres in Uvalde and Buffalo, and as we work to combat the daily toll of the gun violence epidemic in cities like Chicago, this decision will make it even easier for guns to flood our streets. 

“For years, the gun lobby has told us the way to reduce gun violence is not to pass new gun laws, but to enforce the laws already on the books.  At the same time, the gun lobby has been arguing in court to strike down those gun laws on the books.  Today, they succeeded.  This decision makes it all the more important for Congress to take actionable steps to protect our kids and communities from this nation’s gun violence epidemic.

“In a nation of almost 400 million firearms, this Supreme Court decision is an invitation for more gun deaths and chaos in America’s neighborhoods.  Relying on history to justify this conclusion is, as Justice Breyer’s dissent states, unrealistic in an age of 3D printed ‘ghost guns.’”

According to the New York Times, as of June 6, the New York City Police Department has recovered more than 3,000 guns already this year, and such arrests have hit a 28-year-high.  Meanwhile, in 2020, gunfire became the leading cause of death among American children and teens (ages 1-18), according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

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