New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is one of four mayors from Louisiana’s biggest cities who've joined 200 of their colleagues nationwide in signing a letter to Congress demanding the passage of gun background check and red flag legislation.
One of the signees, Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo, says a rash of recent mass shootings demands an appropriate response.
“There is no excuse for not doing this. In fact, if these two bills had been in place in 2015 the terrible tragedy that occurred at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston might have been avoided.”
The letter notes there have been 250 mass shootings in 2019 alone.
Similar legislation failed to gain any traction in the last Legislative session in Louisiana. Mayo says with states failing to do their part, it’s up to D.C. “It needs to be done on a federal level, and as far as the state is concerned it is in the hands of our federal representatives.” The Mayor says he plans on writing a personal letter to US Senator Bill Cassidy urging him to support the federal bill.
Opponents of the legislation say it’s an infringement on 2nd amendment rights and would do little to actually curb gun violence, but Mayo says it would at least help cut down on mass shooting events.
“We all have concerns about all of these mass shootings that are occurring in parking lots, Walmarts, churches, in different places where you just never know, people are afraid.”
Mayo was joined by Mayors Latoya Cantrell of New Orleans, Adrian Perkins of Shreveport, and Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome of Baton Rouge.
