Rep. Mike Thompson took questions regarding gun violence from constituents in California’s 5th District in a town hall at Vallejo High School. (Photo by George Johnston)

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Napa) discussed his plans for curbing gun violence and took questions from his 5th District constituents at a town hall at Vallejo High School on Saturday.
Thompson, who represents Benicia in the U.S. House of Representatives, began the town hall by talking about his goals of establishing a committee on gun violence prevention. According to the congressman, this committee would investigate the cause of gun violence, find methods to improve the federal firearms purchase background check system and discover any links between mental illness and gun violence.
“The most significant thing that we could do in this country to advance gun safety and gun violence prevention is the expansion of background checks,” Thompson said. “To make sure everybody who buys a gun, through the commercial sale of firearms, goes through a background check to make sure they are not a criminal or dangerously mentally ill.”
According to the congressman, he has legislation on guns which hasn’t been brought up to a committee or at the House of Representatives, but felt that people should not lose sight of the fact 30 individuals die a day from gun violence. The representative said it is time for gun owners to get involved with helping create gun control laws in the wake of the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
The first speaker of the town hall asked Thompson about the transference of firearms between families. The congressman explained how tough California laws are for family members to exchange guns and how all those involved in transference must go through background checks. Thompson also said the ban on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studying gun violence should be lifted.
On the issue of arming teachers, the congressman said he had grave concerns about that. Teachers should spend more time on their lessons plans lesson plans than on the firing ranging, he remarked. Monica Brown, Benicia’s representative on the Solano County Board of Supervisors and a retired teacher, told Thompson that Congress should focus on funding teachers with an emphasis on landlines and doors that can lock from the inside of the classroom.
Another speaker called Thompson out for taking donations from the National Rifle Association and asked what the congressman’s stance on assault weapons was, specifically the Colt AR-15. Thomson said he took around $2,000 from the NRA in the early 2000s, but he has not since and noted that the NRA has given him an F grade on the gun rights. In regards to assault weapons, the representative said he believed weapons of war do not belong in civilian life.
Shannon Sweeney, a student at Benicia High School, asked Thompson if there should be stricter ammunitions checks. The congressman brought up California’s laws for ammunitions checks and called it a thorny issue.
At the end of the town hall, Thompson listened to a woman tell her story of mental illness and struggles with violence and gun violence.
“You asked what you can do?” she said. “You can help me. You can help the children out there who are hurting. All you have to do is let them know that they are loved that they can be represented.”

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