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December 19, 2012
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WASHINGTON â€" After four days of self-imposed silence on the shooting that killed 26 people inside a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, the nation's largest gun rights lobby emerged Tuesday and promised ‘‘to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.''

The National Rifle Association explained its unusual absence ‘‘out of respect for the families and as a matter of common decency'' after Friday's shooting that left 20 children dead, all ages 6 or 7.

December 18, 2012
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The White House on Tuesday said President Obama will actively support efforts to reinstate a federal ban on assault weapons, prevent the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips and close the “gun show loophole” that helps people avoid background checks.

The move came as Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told House Republicans at a closed-door conference they needed to “have a discussion on guns,” while the National Rifle Association spoke out for the first time since 20 schoolchildren were killed by a lone gunman in a crime that shocked the nation.

December 18, 2012
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House Democrats will deploy a task force to study legislation in the wake of the shootings in Newtown, Conn. last week, including examining changes to gun laws and the issues of mental illness and youth violence, Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) announced on Tuesday.

“We are resolved in our caucus that the time to act is now,” Larson, who got emotional speaking about the shootings, said. “And that we know that taking no action, is to be complicit to a future event.”

December 18, 2012
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House Democrats are huddling today to develop gun control laws, starting with a ban on “assault weapons” and “assault clips,” the chairman of a new gun control task force said today.

“This is not a war on guns,” Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., who will chair the Democratic task force, said today. “[O]ur communities and our neighborhoods and our society receive no benefit from military-type assault weapons on the street or assault clips in the hands of anyone.” Thompson emphasized that they're “not going to try and take law-abiding citizens' guns away from them.”


December 18, 2012
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Like retail outlets around the country in the final week before Christmas, the Schmidt & Titoni Firearms shop in Santa Rosa was bustling Tuesday, its mostly regular customers patiently vying for one of the store's four busy partners to help them conduct their business.

Co-owner Victor Titoni said a surge in sales is fairly typical amid the talk of tougher gun control laws that inevitably follows a mass shooting, in this case one that left 28 dead, 20 of them children, in Newtown, Conn., last week.

December 18, 2012
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Ban on assault weapons, better mental health services are proposed.

In response to the elementary school shooting last week in Newtown, Conn., U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, will be leading a new task force in Congress that will examine potential changes in federal gun laws.

The move follows calls from Congressional Democrats to tighten restrictions on guns. U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., announced the formation of the task force to Democrats in the House of Representatives, the news website Politico reported Tuesday.

December 13, 2012
Bipartisan legislation co-authored by Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-1) that provides better protection for taxpayer dollars today passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 402-0. The legislation, H.R. 4053, the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act (IPERIA), will better identify, prevent and recover payment error, waste, fraud and abuse within federal spending by making sure federal agencies have policies in place to prevent and recover improper payments.

December 12, 2012

Rep. Mike Thompson and a bipartisan group of 29 Senators and Representatives sent a letter to President Obama Wednesday calling for Master Limited Partnerships and Real Estate Investment Trusts to be a priority in the federal government's "all of the above" energy strategy. The letter was led by the lead sponsors of the bipartisan Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act: U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and U.S. Representatives Ted Poe (R-TX-02), Mike Thompson (D-CA-01) and Peter Welch (D-VT-AL). The legislation, H.R. 6437 and S.


December 11, 2012
21 Medal of Honor recipients sent a letter today urging Senate and House leaders who are negotiating the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to include Rep. Mike Thompson's (CA-1) provision honoring Colonel Robert Howard in the legislation. Thompson's provision was passed by the House as an amendment to H.R. 4310, the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2013 and honors Col.
Issues:Veterans

December 10, 2012
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I am honored and humbled by the overwhelming show of support I received throughout our district on Election Day. With your vote, you put your trust in me to return to Washington and work to make our district a better place to live, work and raise a family.

Now, the election is behind us. A new year and a new Congress are in front of us. It is time to move forward -- not as Democrats and Republicans, but united as Americans -- with the common goal of building a stronger nation.