At town hall, McClellan addresses questions of gun control, violence, environmental issues

U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) held her first in-person town hall meeting at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College on Sept. 6, an event attended by more than 70 people and that opened with a dramatic plea for gun control laws. One constituent fell into tears at the microphone as she expressed fear and exasperation over gun-related violence.

"What's been going through my mind lately is just the gun violence and mass shootings, and I'm tired of people saying it's a mental health problem," said the young woman, who introduced herself as “K.”

McClellan said several federal bills designed to limit access to guns exist but are stuck in committees.

“We have what's called a discharge petition,” McClellan said, referring to a procedure that forces bills out of committee and onto the floor for a vote. She said she has signed one, but the petition needs at least 218 signatures from the House’s 435 members to succeed.  “There is bipartisan support.” McClellan, who is on the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, said.

One of these bills is an assault weapons ban, similar to the legal restrictions that were in place from 1994 to 2004.

Another bill McClellan co-sponsored is the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention Act, which would require the Department of Justice to promote gun violence prevention strategies.

"So, we do have bills in place," McClellan said. "We cannot get them out of committee. That doesn't mean we're not going to continue to fight."

McClellan also said she wants to help pass bills that investigate the root causes of gun violence in communities and invest in programs to handle those causes. Since being sworn in on March 7, McClellan and other Democrats in Congress have co-sponsored a bill that declares gun violence as a public health crisis.

"It is too easy for someone to get a gun that will kill a whole lot of people very quickly," said McClellan. "And there are things that we can do to stop that."

During the town hall event, McClellan was pressed to answer many difficult questions, including where the federal government can intercede in Virginia’s tilt away from reproductive rights and the rights of transgender women in sports.

On Feb. 17, McClellan won a special election to succeed the late U.S Rep. Donald McEachin, becoming the first Black woman elected to Congress from Virginia. Prior to her election, she served in the General Assembly for 18 years and passed monumental bills such as the Voting Rights Act of Virginia.

One woman at the meeting, who did not give her name, changed the subject from gun reform to transgender rights. She said she supports initiatives of diversity and inclusion but feels women’s rights are being compromised when transgender women are allowed to compete in women's sports.

“It just doesn’t seem fair to allow male bodied persons at the junior high level to compete against women and be allowed to use their locker rooms,” she said. “Puberty has given them an unfair advantage.”

McClellan sidestepped on the issue. She said bills introduced about trans youth participating in sports fail to solve the biological unfairness between athletes and that this fairness can be achieved without the government telling people what gender they are.

“When I pass laws, I'm trying to solve a problem. If the problem is you have a 6 ft-200-pound individual playing against a 5 ft-100-pound individual, we can fix that without having to say to someone, 'I'm going to tell you who you are,'” McClellan said. “That's not the conversation that we're having in Congress. . .because for some people, they are not trying to solve a problem, they're trying to pit us against each other.”

McClellan also was asked to talk about workplace bullying. A 65-year-old woman told McClellan she was a victim of workplace bullying and said she had nearly gone bankrupt after hiring an attorney to fight back against the violence she faced at her job.

“My workplace bully filed a false police protection order against me,” the woman said – an act that led to her termination. She asked McClellan if there was a national effort to get states to pass laws that aim to end workplace bullying.

McClellan said workplace bullying is more of a state issue than federal one. McClellan recommended that the woman take her question to the state legislature and encourage them to pass a state law.

McClellan was also asked if she feels resources spent on space research and exploration could be better spent solving issues on Earth. McClellan said she toured NASA Langley Research Center and found people working there are using space exploration as a way to detect pollution on Earth.

“They were about to launch a satellite that can measure to the neighborhood level. . .the air pollution,” McClellan said enthusiastically. “So that when you check your weather app. . . it will give you a much more granular accurate prediction of what the air quality is going to be today.”

A 45-year-old constituent asked McClellan what environmental initiatives she would implement if she could.

McClellan, a cosponsor for the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act, said there is an increase of power plants and pipelines going through minority and low-income communities, "where people didn't have the power to speak out."

The communities with power plants are bearing disproportionate climate change impacts than more affluent areas. The proposed legislation would require consideration of what else is on these sites, like native burial grounds or vulnerable communities, said McClellan.

McClellan also would like to continue federal investment in the transition to clean energy and clean transportation, she said, and wants to help farmers transition some of their techniques in ways that are less damaging to the environment.

"We in Congress are really pushing to make sure that we transition to clean energy in a way that doesn't leave anyone behind," she said.

McClellan was also asked what solution she supported about fixing ethical concerns with Supreme Court justices. A Henrico resident approached the mic and said the Supreme Court has little to no regard for its own ethics.

“My question is, of the few resolutions that people talk about as far as how to deal with the court, whether it is court expansion, whether it is jurisdictional curtailing or whether it is term limits, which one of those you feel that you would support?” the citizen asked McClellan.

McClellan said she supports expanding the Supreme Court depending on the amount of work that the court and the circuits have.

McClellan also said she agreed to sign the Supreme Court Ethics Act, which asks the Judicial Conference of the U.S to issue a code of conduct for judges, including Supreme Court justices.

McClellan plans to hold more in person town hall meetings during her time in office to listen to more concerns from her district.