Congressman Maxwell Frost Offers Critical Amendment to NDAA Aimed At Preventing Gun Accidents, Suicide for Civilians
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, as the House of Representatives prepares to consider the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 (NDAA), Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (FL-10) has introduced a critical amendment to the legislation aimed at curbing gun violence nationwide.
Frost’s amendment, which has been supported by March For Our Lives and Brady: United Against Gun Violence, would require the Secretary of Defense to conduct a study on the safety benefits of the military’s firearm and ammunition standards and practices, which require weeks of training and testing before service members can use and carry a firearm, and how they could apply to firearm licensing nationwide. This mandatory training on safe handling and storage of a weapon has prevented accidents involving a firearm for those who serve and those around them.
Frost’s amendment would allow the Department of Defense to offer recommendations for simple, common sense processes based on the DoD’s assessment of their own firearm safety program that can be implemented at the federal or state level to curb the loss of life due to improper use and storage of firearms among civilians.
“How is it that members of our military have to go through intense training and evaluations before they are even able to pick up a firearm, yet virtually any person in our country is able to walk into a store and purchase a firearm they don’t know how to use or store,” said Congressman Maxwell Frost. “Our nation, through its armed forces, has effectively developed and created a system capable of ensuring the safety and training of gun users — it's time we take that knowledge and apply it outside of the military to our communities so we can save lives.”
Local Orlando-area veteran, Lieutenant Commander (Ret) USN Kevin Ballinger also expressed support for Frost’s amendment, stating: “Having served 22 years in the United States Navy and carried a weapon 90% of the time at sleep or awake, I understand that guns are a weapon of death. The use and purchase of guns should be regulated to include purchasing, training, and mental health stability. This will help in reducing gun violence and suicide by gun.”
“In many states, civilians aren’t required to go through any training before obtaining many of the very same, or similar, firearms as the military,” said Zeenat Yahya, Director of Policy at March For Our Lives. “Yet the military requires training to ensure service members are qualified to use their weapons and use them safely. These military standards provide a perfect test case to compare common sense regulation against the current free-for-all that exists in many states, and we’re excited to see this proposal to mandate a comparison study. We can take yet another step towards expanding the toolkit of evidence-based practices to address the gun safety epidemic.”
“To fight the gun violence epidemic, we must be equipped with the best available data on responsible firearms use,” said Kris Brown, President of Brady. “Congress could greatly benefit from a thorough understanding of the contrast of firearms training, storage, and safety practices between servicemembers and civilians and their outcomes on gun violence. Brady is pleased to endorse Congressman Frost’s amendment to The National Defense Authorization Act to help close this knowledge gap.”
“As an Army combat veteran and someone who led weapons safety classes for other infantrymen, I’ve seen firsthand how commonsense weapon instruction, training, and secure storage enhanced the safety of all servicemembers around firearms,” said Jon Carter, J.D., Legislative Assistant with the Office of Congressman Maxwell Frost. “With these standard operating procedures, soldiers could access and use their weapons on a daily basis with the opportunity for harm minimized. It is vital that the civilian community is given the same opportunity to understand the effectiveness of these policies and implement them to save lives.”
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