Rhode Island’s senior U.S. senator, Democrat Jack Reed, has called for a vote on legislation to address gun violence following a mass shooting Wednesday in San Bernardino, California.
The shooting claimed at least 14 lives at a center providing services for the disabled, but the motive remains unclear.
Reed called it “appalling” that some members of the Senate have refused a vote. Among the changes Reed endorses: stronger background checks for gun buyers and closing loopholes to stop terrorists from obtaining guns.
Hours before the shooting, U.S. Representative David Cicilline, also from Rhode Island, called for the re-instatement of an ban on assault weapons, which Congress allowed to expire in 2004. Cicilline has been delivering weekly speeches on the House floor about gun violence. He plans to introduce a bill to reauthorize the assault weapons ban.
