WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) this week introduced the Start Advancing Firearms Enhancements and Technology (SAFETY) Act, legislation that would provide tax incentives to small businesses and firearm manufacturers for the development of smart gun technologies. The bill also encourages consumers to buy firearms that utilize new breakthroughs in safety to reduce gun violence. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is a co-sponsor of the legislation. U.S. Representative Jim Himes (CT-4) introduced the companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Smart guns are an innovative way to control who has access to your gun. If I can use my finger or face to unlock my cell phone, then firearm manufacturers can be innovative in using technology to secure guns. We know that safely securing guns will cut down on suicides and accidental deaths, especially among children. I’m going to keep doing everything I can to offer proposals that can help save as many lives as possible,” said Murphy.
“Our bill incentivizes advancements in safe gun technology that will save lives. Safe gun technology has already created locks that prevent accidental shootings and fingerprint scans that disable firearms for anyone but their lawful owners. The firearm industry and responsible gun owners should already be embracing these kinds of innovations. With our bill, small businesses and manufacturers will have even more incentive to harness the power of American innovation and create smarter, safer firearms,” said Blumenthal.
Since his time in the Senate, Murphy has been a vocal critic of our nation’s gun laws. In January, Murphy reintroduced the Background Check Expansion Act to expand federal background checks to the sale or transfer of all firearms by private sellers, with certain reasonable exceptions. Murphy also joined U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to introduce the Automatic Gun Fire Prevention Act, a bill to close a loophole that allows people to use bump-stocks to turn semi-automatic weapons to automatic weapons, and the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019, a bill to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. Murphy also co-authored the bipartisan Fix NICS Act with U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), which improves federal and state reporting of relevant criminal history records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and was signed into law last year.
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