113th Congress

In the three and a half weeks since Newtown, Conn. put gun violence back on the front-burner, gun-control advocates have seized the initiative in Washington. They've introduced no less than 8 different gun-control bills since last week alone. President Obama last month tapped Vice President Joe Biden to lead a commission on gun violence, and days later House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi picked Rep. Mike Thompson to lead a separate task force on the issue. Thompson last week announced the appointment of 12 vice-chairs.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, Chair of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, will host a gun violence prevention public forum in Napa Tuesday evening.

Thompson, D-St. Helena, said the event is to bring together experts, stakeholders and community members for a comprehensive discussion on the steps that must be taken to reduce and prevent gun violence.

The forum will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 8 in the Napa City Hall council chambers, according to an announcement from the congressman's office.

The Californian picked to lead congressional Democrats' efforts on gun control says the positions held by some gun rights advocates are unnecessarily divisive, and that government action should go beyond simply outlawing certain weapons.

"I think assault weapons are a pox on the home of every gun owner," Rep. Mike Thompson said Saturday on CNN. "I think that's the thing that's going to cause the overwhelming majority of people in this country who aren't gun owners to have negative feelings about those of us who are gun owners."

Rep. Mike Thompson said the public forum on gun violence prevention that he is hosting Thursday in Santa Rosa will be a wide-ranging discussion of the divisive issue rekindled by last month's tragedy in Connecticut.

“Everything is on the table,” said Thompson, D-St. Helena, who was named chairman of a congressional task force on gun violence in the wake of the Dec. 14 massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.

But Thompson, a hunter, gun owner and Vietnam combat veteran, refused to use the phrase “gun control” in an interview Friday.

Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-5), chair of a congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, on Friday announced 12 vice chairs to serve on the task force.

The vice chairs and Thompson will make up the task force's leadership team.

Rep. Mike Thompson, the House Democrats' point man on gun reform, has picked a dozen vice chairs - including another Bay Area member of Congress - for his task force and is planning a community forum next week in the North Bay.

Thompson, D-Napa, was named last month by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to head a task force on gun violence prevention. He's a Vietnam combat veteran, gun owner and avid hunter.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), who was recently named as chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), announced the rest of the leadership team late Friday afternoon.

Thompson named 12 representatives of the House Democratic Caucus, who will join him as vice chairs. The task force will undertake ways of reducing and preventing gun violence, following the tragedy in Newtown, Conn.

The task force is expected to release a comprehensive set of policy proposals in early February.