U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson of California and Elizabeth Esty of Connecticut have asked for an end to legislative language in appropriation bills they said blocks efforts “to reduce and prevent gun violence.”

Thompson, D-Napa, is Benicia’s representative in the House, and is chairperson of the House Gun Vilence Prevention Task Force.

Esty, also a Democrat, is vice chairperson of the task force.

The two have written the leaders of the House of Representatives, requesting a halt to legislative language called “riders.”

Riders that accompany bills or measures rarely have any connection with the legislation’s subject matter, Thompson and Etsy noted, using as an example a version of the Affordable Care Act that contained a rider about student loan reform.

Riders can be used to pass controversial provisions that might not pass on their own, though sometimes they’re added to discourage a bill’s passage. If they’re attached to appropriations bills, they usually are passed because a veto would end or delay funding key governmental programs.

The letter went to House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. It urged them to oppose inclusion of gun-related riders in appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2015.

The two said that in previous years, members of Congress included gun-related riders without any public debate.

Thompson said Americans “deserve an open debate on these backdoor legislative tactics that do nothing but make our communities less safe,” adding, “The only people these riders benefit are criminals.”

He said the riders include provisions known as the Rehberg restrictions that prohibit research at the National Institutes of Health on gun violence prevention.

Another rider, the Tiahrt amendments, hinders the ability of law enforcement to track and combat the spread of illegal guns, Thompson said.

A third rider, the Dickey restrictions, have led to a halt on Centers for Disease Control research into the causes and prevention of gun violence.

“They prevent the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health from conducting research on the causes of gun violence,” he said. “They restrict law enforcement’s ability to track and combat the spread of illegal guns. And they harm efforts to reduce and prevent gun violence,” Thompson said.

Esty called it “unacceptable” for members of Congress “to slip into must-pass bills controversial provisions that block efforts to reduce gun violence.”

She said the inclusion of riders “underscores how harmful these under-the-table provisions can be.”

In its policy principles released in February 2013, the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force recommended that Congress repeal these riders and restore funding for public safety and law enforcement initiatives aimed at reducing gun violence, Thompson said.

The task force also recommended Congress fund law enforcement’s efforts to reduce gun violence and support federal research into the causes of gun violence, and remove the Rehberg, Tiahrt and Dickey restrictions.

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