On Sunday, a gunman with a military assault-style weapon killed three people, including a 6-year-old boy, and injured 12 at a garlic festival in California. It was the 42nd mass shooting in July alone and the 246th in America this year.1
These shootings need to stop. At festivals. At schools. At places of worship. At night clubs. At movie theaters.
There are so many simple, clear steps that lawmakers can take to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in America—by passing into law policies that are supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans and even most gun owners.2,3
Universal background checks. Closing the gun show loophole. Banning assault weapons such as AR-15s. Banning bump stocks.
Indeed, the Democratic U.S. House passed two bills that would accomplish many of these goals earlier this year, but Mitch McConnell and the GOP—at the bidding of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun manufacturers—won't even allow the bills to come up for a vote in the Senate.4 They won't even allow federal funding for research into gun violence.5It's outrageous. And it's heartbreaking....
The horrific massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School nearly seven years ago should have been a tipping point on gun violence in America, but since then:
There have been approximately 2,185 mass shootings.6
Congress has passed into law zero measures to make our children and communities safer.
The NRA and gun manufacturers continue to write big checks to Republican politicians.
According to polls, Mitch McConnell and other GOP senators who are up in for re-election in 2020 are increasingly vulnerable. But to defeat them in 2020—which is the only way we can finally pass legislation to address America's gun violence crisis—we need to make sure their constituents know that they're standing with the NRA and blocking commonsense reforms to address America's gun violence epidemic....
1. Tweet by Gun Violence Archive, July 29, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68478?t=4&aki ... 8%2E_fgXTi
2. "Americans support gun control but doubt lawmakers will act: Reuters/Ipsos poll," Reuters, February 8, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68479?t=6&aki ... 8%2E_fgXTi
3. "Most Gun Owners Support Stricter Laws — Even NRA Members," Time, March 13, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/68480?t=8&aki ... 8%2E_fgXTi
4. "House Passes Sweeping Gun Bill," NPR, February 27, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68481?t=10&ak ... 8%2E_fgXTi
5. "House GOP appropriators block funding for gun violence research," Politico, July 11, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/68482?t=12&ak ... 8%2E_fgXTi
6. "After Sandy Hook, we said never again. And then we let 2,185 mass shootings happen." Vox, accessed July 30, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68483?t=14&ak ... 8%2E_fgXTi