Thursday, August 8, 2019

AUGUSTA, GA (WRDW/WAGT) -- Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr. is one of over 200 mayors who have signed a letter asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to pass bipartisan gun safety legislation.

"We urge you to call the Senate back to session now to take up and pass these bills to help reduce gun violence and the terrible toll it takes in our cities and our nation," the letter said.

over the weekend in Dayton, OH and El Paso, TX that left over 30 people dead and scores of others wounded.

The letter asks McConnell to bring two bills already passed by the House of Representatives to the floor: the Bipartisan Background Check Act of 2019 and the Enhanced Background Check Act of 2019.

Both bills appear to focus on expanding background checks for firearms purchases and closing a loophole that allows "unregulated secondary sales."

"H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112 are bipartisan, sensible gun safety bills that would make our cities and our people safer, and would in no way compromise gun owners’ rights," the letter reads.

McConnell, meanwhile, has resisted calls to action on bills that many would consider to infringe upon the rights of gun owners.