Elizabeth Warren Unveils New Plan to Reduce U.S. Gun Deaths by 80%

Democratic presidential candidate and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren published a new plan on Saturday that pledges to reduce American firearm deaths by 80%, throwing an ambitious new collection of proposals into a Democratic field crowded with promises to curb gun violence in the wake of mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas.

In the plan, Warren promises to implement a long series of executive actions and legislative initiatives that she believes would radically curb gun deaths and reign in the power of firearm industry lobbyists in Washington. Her 80% figure is based on the estimated reduction of auto-related deaths over the past five decades due in part to federal auto-safety regulations. Warren’s stated intention is to prompt similar reductions in gun-related fatalities.

Warren’s proposals include executive actions like expanding background check requirements to more gun sales, expanding age restrictions and investigating the NRA for alleged “corrupt business practices.” She also includes legislative initiatives including the creation of a federal gun licensing system and increased federal taxes on firearms and ammunition.

Some of her plan’s details, like the elimination of the Senate filibuster, might have difficulty finding legislator support, even if Warren had Democratic control over both houses of Congress. Some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been reticent to change filibuster rules.

However, Warren admits that her current proposals might not actually reduce gun deaths to one fifth their current rate. She wrote that an 80% reduction would be her goal as President, with continuing refinement of her regulations to come over the years.

“We might not know how to get all the way there yet,” Warren wrote. “But we’ll start by implementing solutions that we believe will work.”

Warren’s most recent proposal tops off a long list of more than a dozen ambitious policy proposals that the progressive candidate has outlined on the campaign trail. Those measures include ideas to make housing and child care more affordable, reduce student debt and potentially trust-bust the big firms of Silicon Valley.