Election victories are leading us in the right direction...but we need common sense gun laws and a SCOTUS that enforces gun reform too. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to updates from Mothers Against Greg Abbott. If you don’t wish to receive further emails, please [click here]([link removed] to unsubscribe.
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Dear John,
Zackey Ramini is **not** a good person. But that's not deterred the gun lobby from making him their chosen poster child to challenge common-sense gun laws.
The Supreme Court heard oral argument this week in *Ramini vs. United States* — the first major gun rights case to go before the Supreme Court this year, and one with pretty frightening implications.
A few years ago, Ramini beat up his girlfriend in an Arlington, Texas parking lot. When he realized that someone had seen the attack, he pulled a gun and fired at the witness. His girlfriend escaped — but Ramini called her later and threatened to shoot her if she told anyone about the attack.
Ramini’s girlfriend tried to do the right thing, filing for (and receiving) a protective order that barred Mr. Rahimi from going near her home and workplace, suspended Rahimi’s handgun license, and prohibited him from possessing firearms for two years.
Mr. Rahimi defied that order in flagrant fashion. He threatened a different woman with a gun, leading to charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Then, in the space of two months, he opened fire in public five times (including after having a credit card declined at a fast-food place).
Ramini is not *exactly* a role model for responsible gun ownership.
But when the government prosecuted him for violating his restraining order and possessing a gun, the Second Amendment fanatics stepped in. **They’ve never seen a gun law that they thought was okay, so why let the fact that *Ramini should obviously never be allowed to own a gun* stand in the way?**
It will be several months (at least) before we know how the Court decides this case, but I just wanted to reflect on how crazy the pro-gun advocates have become.
**Known abusers like Ramini shouldn’t have guns.** We know what happens when they do — Ramini made that clear when he went on his shooting rampages even after the restraining order, and nationwide statistics tell the same story. On average, 70 women across this country are killed *each month* by a husband or partner, and most of those murders are at the hands of a perpetrator with a firearm.\[1\]
We have an epidemic of gun violence in this country. Here in Texas, guns are the leading killer of children. We have suffered from mass shooting after mass shooting after mass shooting.
So when is it *ever* going to stop?
For extremist politicians and their buddies at the NRA, the answer is *never*. Even Zackey Ramini gets a gun.
With the gun lobby taking more extreme positions every day, mothers and others like us need to speak **even more** loudly about the need for common-sense gun reform. **Mothers Against Greg Abbott will be increasing our investment in the battle to end gun violence, with new ads and billboards like this one:**
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Thank you for helping us win the battle to make this country safer for all of us.
**Nancy Thompson, Founder**
**Mothers Against Greg Abbott**
REFERENCES
1\. Everytown analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), 2019.
*The Voucher Scam* Episode 3
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[]([link removed] our third episode of *The Voucher Scam*, Claire O'Neal and Nichole Abshire peel the lid back on **the Edgewood Experiment**, a 10-year voucher program that was implemented in Texas from 1998-2008.
Surprised that Texas *already* had experimented with school vouchers? Despite the similarities with Texas Governor Abbott's current school voucher plan, Abbott and his allies rarely mention the Edgewood Experiment and would prefer you didn't know about it.
The program came with a $50 million price tag, ran in Edgewood ISD (on the west side of San Antonio), and its relative success...? **[Listen to Episode 3: The Edgewood Experiment and the History of Vouchers to find out more.]([link removed]
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[]([link removed] For Democracy / Mothers Against Greg Abbott is **the largest coalition dedicated to defeating the extremist MAGA movement in Texas.** While we don’t agree on every topic, we all agree the Texas GOP isn’t Texas values.
Since 2021, we’ve been helping lead the Democratic resistance in Texas, we’ve organized thousands of local voters and our public issue campaigns have reached millions of Texans in key battleground areas. Now, we’re backed by thousands of Texas parents who are mobilizing in their own neighborhoods to ensure the Texas we hand over to the next generation is better than the one we've inherited.
We’re sick and tired of being linked to a handful of extremist MAGA spokesmen—divisive politicians like Ken Paxton and Ted Cruz. We know it’s going to take all of us to defeat them this election cycle. **The power of mothers and others like us means we know we can do it**: It’s time for democracy to prevail.
100% of our work is powered by individual donations and our average donation is just $23. We can’t stop until our children have the future they deserve. So this election cycle, we’re taking down Ted Cruz and dozens more of his Texas MAGA cronies. With you by our side, we’ll deliver the kind of leadership everyone living in Texas can be proud of.
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