John,
This week, our nation's leaders talked about preventing gun violence after 31 people were murdered and 51 more injured in El Paso and Dayton this weekend.
The words were all too familiar.
They talked about preventing gun violence after three people were murdered in the shooting in Gilroy, California, last week. Instead, they started a five-week vacation.
They talked about preventing gun violence after 17 students and educators were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last year. Instead, they tried to arm teachers.
They talked about preventing gun violence after the shootings in Las Vegas, in Orlando, and after my sweet little Daniel was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary. Instead, they blocked commonsense gun safety reforms.
How much more half-hearted talk will we have to sit through – and how many more precious lives will be lost in the meantime – before Congress finally acts?
We can't let more families be ripped apart by gun violence. That's why we need to ramp up our advocacy work and expand our gun violence programs right now – but we're still $77,349 short of the resources we need to push Congress to immediately pass gun safety reforms. Will you please donate as much as you can right now to help us close this gap and prevent the next tragedy?
I still carry a photo of my sweet little Daniel with me everywhere – not because I want people to feel sorry for me, but because I want them to look at the human toll of gun violence.
For my little boy, for all the lives we've lost and for the lives we can still save – thank you. It means so much to see you keeping your promise to protect children from gun violence by taking action today.
Mark Barden (Daniel's father)
