Gun Control
Senator Kerry is deeply troubled by the numbers of people - and particularly the number of children - that are wounded or killed by gunfire each year and he supports stricter gun control measures in order to prevent children and adults from misusing any of the approximately 192 million firearms currently in circulation in the United States. He believes that we need to close the gun show loophole, which permits sales at gun shows without a background check, require the provision of a child safety lock on all handguns, and increase controls on assault weapons and handguns.

Gun Safety Locks
Greatly concerned by the numbers of children who are victims of handgun violence every day, Senator Kerry authored the Gun Lock Consumer Protection Act, which requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to formulate minimum safety standards for gun safety locks and to ensure that only such locks that meet the minimal standard are available for purchase by consumers. The use of gun safety locks is increasing in the United States, but despite the growing use of these locks, they are not subject to any minimal safety standards. The CPSC has participated in the voluntary recall of hundreds of thousands of locks over the past couple of years.

Drugs
Senator Kerry believes that in order to deal with the problem of illegal drugs in this country, efforts must be focused on keeping drugs out of the country and our communities, as well as reducing demand for illegal drugs. He supports aggressively targeting traffickers and dealers, and at the same time, aggressively pursuing drug prevention and treatment programs.