Dear John,

I know it’s been a difficult few weeks for all of us, so I wanted to be the first to share with you some amazing news coming out of Virginia.

On Friday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed a slate of historic gun violence prevention measures into law. 

The new laws -- which will take effect on July 1 -- will save lives in Virginia. I am so proud of what we have finally accomplished!

Click here to make a donation today to celebrate the passage of the most substantive new gun laws in Virginia’s history!

The new laws include:

• Requiring background checks on all firearm sales in Virginia, which will prevent guns from ending up in dangerous hands
• Establishing an Extreme Risk Protective Order (ERPO), which creates a legal mechanism for law enforcement to temporarily separate a person from their firearms when they represent a danger to themselves or others
• Reinstating Virginia’s one-handgun-a-month rule to help curtail stockpiling of firearms and trafficking
• Requiring gun owners to report their lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement within 48 hours 
• Preventing children from accessing firearms by increasing the penalty for recklessly leaving firearms in their presence

This is a historic moment, not only in the Commonwealth of Virginia, but for our movement as a whole. To all of the supporters of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and members of our gun violence prevention movement -- this victory belongs to all of you. 

I got involved in this work 13 years ago (this week) when my own daughter was injured at the Virginia Tech shooting. To see the growth and persistence of the gun violence prevention movement through the years of legislative stalemates, misinformation campaigns, and further tragedy is truly moving to me. We could not have done this without you. 

If you are as moved by this long-awaited victory as I am, please consider donating $15, $25, $50 -- whatever you can afford right now -- to help the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence continue our work.

The legislation that we pursued in Virginia has been decades in the making. We know that the victories we see here will lead the nation and show other states what meaningful and substantive policy change can look like.

Virginia made history this year. Donate now to support the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence as we fight tooth-and-nail to bring legislative victories like Virginia to all fifty states!

Thank you,

Lori Haas

Senior Director of Advocacy and Virginia State Director

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

www.csgv.org