SPONSOR:	Sen. Marshall & Sen. Lavelle & Rep. Osienski
	Sens. Blevins, Hall-Long, Henry, McBride, McDowell, Peterson, Poore, Sokola, Townsend; Reps. Baumbach, Bolden

DELAWARE STATE SENATE

148th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 16

CALLING ON THE U.S. CONGRESS TO ENACT COMMON SENSE GUNLAWS BARRING PERSONS ON THE TERRORIST WATCH LIST AND NO FLY LIST FROM BEING ABLE TO PURCHASE FIREARMS IN DELAWARE AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

WHEREAS, violence involving armed terrorists has been deemed a serious public safety issue in Delaware and across the United States; and

WHEREAS, there have been an alarming number of mass shootings across the United States; and

WHEREAS, criminals in many of these incidents used multiple, legally purchased handguns and assault-style weapons to commit their nefarious crimes; and

WHEREAS, in several recent mass shootings, the criminals responsible for the killing of innocent citizens have announced their allegiance to known terrorist organizations and in some cases were investigated by the FBI for the associations with those groups; and

WHEREAS, the federal government maintains classified databases of suspected terrorists, commonly known as "the terrorist watch list," and a no fly list which denies airline access to suspected terrorists; and

WHEREAS, utilizing that data to deny suspected terrorists the ability to purchase firearms would help protect the safety of American citizens from unprovoked attacks; and

WHEREAS, the most efficient means of implementing such a system is at the federal level; and

WHEREAS, Federal elected officials, including U.S. Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, and others have submitted and/or suggested potential solutions to this vital public safety issue; and

WHEREAS, Federal elected officials of both political parties have demanded that these questions be brought up for debate and votes.

NOW, THEREFORE:

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the 148^th General Assembly of the State of Delaware, with the approval of the Governor, that, in keeping with their historical support of commonsense gun laws, we respectfully call on Delaware's Congressional Delegation, U.S. Sen. Thomas Carper, U.S. Sen. Christopher Coons and U.S. Rep. John Carney, to stand in support of solutions to this pressing public safety issue.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we respectfully call on the full Congress of the United States to act favorably on this effort, which in keeping with its responsibility to maintain the public order and protect the lives of American citizens would ban the sale of firearms in Delaware and across the United States to persons listed on the federal government's classified database of suspected terrorists, commonly referred to as its "terrorist watch list," or on the federal government's no fly list.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, upon passage, suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the National Governor's Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Council of State Governments, the U.S. Association of Counties, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Honorable U.S. Sen. Thomas Carper, the Honorable U.S. Sen. Christopher Coons and the Honorable U.S. Rep. John Carney and to the clerks of the United States Senate and House of Representatives for entry into the public record.