Dear Friend,
Devastating tragedies are occuring with such frequency, and yet we see no actions and no changes.
It seems as though we wake up each day to yet another mass shooting. A little over a week ago, in Tennessee, three children and three school staff were massacred. Over the weekend, three more mass shootings around the country claimed the lives of numerous innocent people. And yesterday, five people were murdered and eight injured at a shooting in a bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.
I am afraid that by the time you receive this email, yet another tragedy may have occurred.
Over the past four years, my Democratic colleagues and I endeavored to pass some common sense gun safety legislation in Virginia. We successfully passed legislation for background checks, red flag laws for individuals struggling with mental health concerns, and we authorized localities to ensure that public parks and playgrounds can be designated as gun-free zones.
This session, we presented even more additional such as banning assault rifles, securing weapons that are left in vehicles, and safe storage in private homes. Unfortunately, these commonsense measures were defeated by Republicans.
Too many Americans have died, and will continue to die, because of unchecked gun violence. We need stricter laws so guns cannot fall into the hands of those who would use them violently and indiscriminately as they engage in mass murder. No American -- or Virginian -- should have to worry about sending their children to school. Or to a mall. Or to a movie theater.
If we want common sense gun violence prevention laws so that we can save lives, we need Democrats in charge.
Our State Senate teeters on the edge, and it could very easily gain a Republican majority in the upcoming November elections, giving the gun lobby-backed GOP control over the entire General Assembly.
And that’s why I need your help. Because of redistricting, I’m running for re-election in an almost entirely new district. And a race like this demands resources. These voters don’t know me.
They don’t know I will stand with them to support reasonable gun safety laws, to protect women’s reproductive rights, to support LGBTQ+ Virginians, to improve our public schools and to address climate change.
