John -- 

The staff and board of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence hope that you are doing well with your health and social distancing. We care about you. We are working at home and communicating via phone and video conferences.

As you can likely guess, we are postponing our annual Lisa Price Gun Violence Prevention Circle fundraising reception, scheduled for May 3rd. We will let you know when we set a new date. We deeply appreciate your commitment to reducing gun violence in North Carolina, including standing up against the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement with your financial support this year. 

We are not asking for your financial support at this time. Instead we encourage you to support local food banks and other organizations helping communities during this pandemic. 

While the Coronavirus pandemic is rightly everyone’s first and foremost concern, NCGV eventually will need your financial support again. The tragedy of gun violence is not going away as is sadly reflected in these recent events:

• The small North Carolina town of Moncure (population 711) is grieving the unexpected and inexplicable loss of seven community members after a man killed six members of his extended family and then took his own life on Sunday night.
• Gun sales are at a record high, including first time buyers. Hyatt Guns, a large Charlotte gun store, says sales have increased by 30 to 40 percent since late February. One of our concerns is that people are not practicing safe storage, which is incredibly important with kids being at home more. One out of three North Carolina parents own a gun and over one in four of those parents’ guns are unsecured.
• In Raleigh, we are preparing for the General Assembly’s scheduled return on April 28th as we are concerned about renewed efforts to allow teachers to carry a gun to school, dismantle our background check system for handguns, and waive the requirement to get a permit before carrying concealed.

Rates of suicide, domestic violence, and hate crimes are not going away and are likely to be exacerbated by this crisis. As we head into the legislative session we know that radical gun rights proponents will not let up in their cause, even during a public health crisis. We will be there working to protect more North Carolinians from gun violence. 

Sincerely,
Becky Ceartas, Executive Director
Wesley McMahon, President of NCGV Board of Directors

North Carolinians Against Gun Violence
http://www.ncgv.org/