Political Watch: July 3, 2025

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• On June 30, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) introduced the Extreme Risk Protection Order Expansion Act—legislation to prevent people who are in crisis from accessing deadly weapons, according to Carbajal’s office. The bill would establish grants to support the implementation of extreme risk protection order (ERPO) laws, also known as “red flag” laws, at the state and local levels. It would also extend federal firearms restrictions to people subject to ERPOs, giving law enforcement the tools to remove access to firearms from people who are considered a danger to themselves or others. “Too often, shootings are preceded by unmistakable warning signs, but communities have lacked the tools to step in before it’s too late,” Carbajal said in a June 30 statement. “This legislation recognizes the value of [ERPOs], and gives law enforcement a clear path to intervene before tragedy strikes.” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) is currently leading companion legislation in the U.S. Senate, according to Carbajal’s office. The legislation is supported by a number of organizations including Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety.

• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a bicameral bill on June 26 to prevent the federal government from contracting with federally licensed firearms dealers that have a documented history of selling guns that are frequently used to commit violent crimes. Existing federal law requires licensed dealers that have sold 25 or more guns over the course of a single year that are subsequently traced to violent crimes within three years of their sale to report additional information on their sales practices to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Padilla and Raskin’s Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act would leverage this data to identify the number of licensed dealers that are consistently and dramatically overrepresented in criminal activity and render them ineligible for federal contracts. “Far too often, lucrative federal contracts are inexplicably awarded to firearm dealers who have been linked to dangerous crime,” Padilla said in a June 26 statement. “The federal government should not be doing business with repeat offenders who are fueling our national gun violence epidemic. Our common-sense legislation aims to combat senseless and preventable gun violence by ensuring that gun dealers keep guns from falling into the wrong hands.” In a release from Padilla’s office, U.S. Rep. Raskin said that the federal government “should not be rewarding gun dealers whose inventory keeps ending up at crime scenes,” and described the Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act as a “bicameral, common-sense bill to ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t supporting bad-apple gun dealers.”

• On June 24, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) released a statement to comment on the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. “Three years ago today, a runaway Supreme Court, with appointees hand-picked by President Donald Trump, made the dangerous decision to strip away the constitutional right to an abortion. Since then, Republicans across the country have doubled down on their attacks on reproductive freedom by implementing near-total bans on abortions and endangering the lives of millions of women by making it harder to receive life-saving care,” Schiff stated. “That’s why the work ahead of us has never been more important. The freedom to receive reproductive health care must be restored as a constitutional right. Congress needs to act and pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify Roe and protect the rights of all.”

This article appears in Jul 3-10, 2025.