Pappas Helps Pass Gun Violence Protection Legislation

Press Release

Today, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) helped pass H.R. 2377, the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2022, to help save lives and stop the epidemic of gun violence in our communities.

"We must not turn our backs to the kind of senseless violence we see far too often across our country," said Congressman Chris Pappas. "Families should not live in fear of gun violence when we have the ability to enact meaningful, common sense legislation to keep our communities safe. The legislation we passed today will help keep deadly firearms out of the hands of those who should not have access to them while ensuring due process is respected. We have the responsibility to take reasonable steps to save lives, and federal extreme risk protection order legislation should be part of the Senate's package to address gun violence."

The Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act will safely remove firearms from those who should not have them while preserving an individual's due process rights, and it creates a new grant program to assist states and local governments to implement and carry out similar legislation, known as "red flag laws."

Yesterday, Pappas helped pass the Protecting Our Kids Act, to help save lives and stop the epidemic of gun violence in our communities.

Pappas called for leadership to take immediate action to combat gun violence last week and also called for leadership to split up the Protecting Our Kids legislative package and hold standalone floor votes on each bill included in the package in order to improve the likelihood of each piece of the package passing through the Senate.

Congressman Pappas will also continue fighting for the following legislation to become law in order to keep our communities safe, and protect kids and all Granite Staters from gun violence:

The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 establishes new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties (i.e., unlicensed individuals). Specifically, it prohibits a firearm transfer between private parties unless a licensed gun dealer, manufacturer, or importer first takes possession of the firearm to conduct a background check. The prohibition does not apply to certain firearm transfers, such as a gift between spouses in good faith.

The Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021 closes the "Charleston loophole."

The Assault Weapons Ban of 2021 makes it a crime to knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon (SAW) or large capacity ammunition feeding device (LCAFD).

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021 modifies and reauthorizes through FY2026 programs and activities under the Violence Against Women Act that seek to prevent and respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.

The Disarm Hate Act expands the categories of persons who are prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm. Specifically, it prohibits firearm sale or transfer to and receipt, possession, shipment, or transport by a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime, or who has received an enhanced hate crime misdemeanor sentence.

The Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act of 2021 creates grants for state and local governments to combat hate crimes. It also authorizes additional penalties for hate crime offenses. Specifically, it establishes grants for states to create state-run hate crimes reporting hotlines.

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