BOSTON, Dec. 3, 2015— Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley this week sent letters to U.S. Senators and Congressmen representing Suffolk County asking the legislators to support a bill that would prevent known and suspected terrorists from lawfully purchasing firearms.

In letters to Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey and Representatives Stephen F. Lynch and Michael E. Capuano, Conley urged each to support S.551/H.R.1076, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015.  The legislation would allow the Attorney General to deny the transfer of firearms or issuance of firearms and explosives licenses to individuals on terror watch lists.  Under current law, these known and suspected terrorists are barred from flying but not from legally purchasing weapons.  Conley and other district attorneys across the country have contacted lawmakers asking them to pass S.551/H.R.1076 in order to close this dangerous loophole in the law.

“Certainly, it is in the interest of the public we serve to ensure that known and suspected terrorists join domestic abusers and fugitives from justice in the ranks of those who are sensibly denied access to firearms,” Conley states in his letter.

Conley is a member of Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, a nonpartisan coalition of leading prosecutors from across the country that earlier this year put its support behind S.551/H.R.1076.  He is also a board member and past vice president of the National District Attorneys Association and past president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association.

The text of the bill can be read here: https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/s551/BILLS-114s551is.pdf

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