RYAN TOWN HALL FACT CHECK: The Truth About Speaker Ryan's Obstruction on Guns

July 13, 2016
Blog Post
On the one month anniversary of the deadliest mass shooting in American history, Speaker Ryan is on CNN twisting himself into knots on guns – trying to explain away House Republicans' dangerous obstruction of commonsense gun violence prevention legislation.  Speaker Ryan says, "the question is whether we can we give the FBI the tools they need to be able to do something…if a person tries to buy a gun [who's] on a watch list."  Well, the fact is that it's House Republicans who are protecting the ability of suspected terrorists and criminals to obtain deadly weapons.

THE FACTS ABOUT SPEAKER RYAN'S OBSTRUCTION ON GUNS

  • House Republicans have voted 23 times to protect the ability of suspected terrorists to purchase deadly weapons.  House Democrats have repeatedly pressed House Republicans for a vote on H.R. 1076, the bipartisan "No Fly, No Buy" legislation to keep guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists.  At every turn, Speaker Ryan and House Republicans have refused to allow a vote on this commonsense measure.

  • House Republicans continue to block a vote on expanded, strengthened background checks that would save lives.  House Democrats are demanding a vote on H.R. 1217, a bipartisan bill to expand our background checks to keep guns away from criminals, domestic abusers, and those who would seek to do harm to others or themselves.  Speaker Ryan won't allow a vote on H.R. 1217 – even as 91 people a day are killed by a gun.

  • Speaker Ryan and House Republicans have announced they're leaving Washington for 7 weeks without acting on commonsense gun violence prevention measures.  "Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his GOP leadership team on Monday decided to punt on any gun-related legislation until after the long summer recess…The decision means the House, which has been wrestling with gun control legislation for weeks, will not consider bills to prevent suspected terrorists from obtaining guns until at least after its seven-week recess, which is set to begin at the end of this week." [The Hill, 7/11/16]