The American Academy of Nursing and 96 nursing associations and intuitions are asking congressional leaders to form a bipartisan commission on mass shootings, saying it is time to explore "common sense gun laws."

The Feb. 27 letter was prompted by the recent mass shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 students and adults dead. The groups said, "The time to act is now."

"In addition to thoughts and prayers for victims and families, we need the will of congressional leadership to lead," they said. "We need common sense gun laws."

Specifically, the groups called for:

• Strengthening universal background checks for firearm purchases.
• Strengthening laws preventing people with a history of domestic violence from having access to firearms.
• Banning the future sale and manufacturer of assault-style weapons.
• Ensuring health care professionals are "unencumbered and fully permitted" to prevent gun injuries by people with high-risk danger behaviors. Florida prevented doctors from discussing guns with patients until a federal court struck down the law last year.
• Focusing federal gun restrictions "on the dangerousness of the individual" and fully funding incentives for states to provide information about dangerous histories to the National Instant Check System for gun buyers.
• Researching the causes and solutions to firearm violence. Congress has effectively banned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from funding research about the issue. http://bit.ly/2F4brE6

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