Friends -

Today is a big day. One year ago today, we finally broke the gun industry’s 30-year stranglehold on Washington when President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law.

I want to take a moment to tell you my story and our movement’s journey to making that happen.

The truth is I never expected to be leading the fight to end gun violence in the Senate.

When I first ran for Senate, this issue wasn’t something I really talked about. I should have worked on this issue, but I didn’t.

Shortly after I won and before I was even sworn in, the massacre in Sandy Hook happened, and my life changed. I knew then that my life’s work would become ending the nation’s gun violence epidemic.

I openly admitted that I would consider my Senate career to be a failure if I could not get my colleagues in the Senate to do something. I staked my political career on delivering meaningful changes to our gun laws because our kids and our communities needed and deserved a champion.

A lot of us hoped change would come quickly. How could it not? How could we do nothing in the wake of Sandy Hook?

But change didn’t come easily. Our movement did not have the political power to rival the gun lobby. So we lost those votes in 2013. We lost votes again after I filibustered for 15 hours in 2016. All while the number of mass shootings and the daily carnage increased.

What I recognized in those defeats was that we had work to do. We couldn’t assume Congress would just wake up and do the right thing. We had to build power outside of Washington from the American people that couldn’t be ignored. So we came together to start building a movement that could go toe to toe and defeat the gun lobby.

Then finally, last year, we had all the pieces in place. We had a gun safety majority in both chambers of Congress and a president with the courage to act. We passed the most significant gun safety legislation in three decades.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that there is more we can do, but this bill will save lives. It was proof positive that we can win on this issue — and with a large bipartisan majority.

But this is not over for me. We know what it will take to save lives, and that work must continue. So I need to ask you to help me keep up this fight.

If you believe in my work to end gun violence, will you please consider making a contribution before Friday’s FEC deadline so I can continue leading on this issue in the U.S. Senate? Your support will directly impact my efforts to grow our movement and change our gun laws.

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The gun lobby would love nothing more than to see me pay a price at the ballot box in 2024. It means the world to me to know so many people have my back.

Thank you to every single person who has stepped up to own a piece of this movement. The progress we’ve made would not happen without you.

Every best wish,

Chris Murphy

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