Tell Congress to stop protecting the gun industry! SIGN NOW

Dear Friend,

It’s Gun Violence Awareness month, when it is time to wear orange to build public awareness of gun violence in our nation so we can help stop it. There’s one aspect of guns and gun violence that critically needs awareness this June: The role firearms have played (and continue to play) in violating civil rights, making all of us less equal and less free.

From the dawn of America’s history, firearms have been used to dominate, oppress, and subjugate in discriminatory ways – first as guns were turned against indigenous and enslaved people in action and in law, and then as guns disproportionately harmed Black and other minority populations through the Jim Crow era all the way to the present day. The immovable political opposition to comprehensive anti-gun-violence policy reform continues that shameful, discriminatory history. 

For too long, far right Republican lawmakers have shielded the gun industry from lawsuits, absolving them of responsibility for their role in spreading gun violence, including sowing racial fear and encouraging aggression against minority communities in order to sell more guns. Congress must stop protecting the gun industry and repeal PLCAA (Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act) now!

The gun industry and its NRA allies have been spectacularly successful in fueling and exploiting fears and anxieties around race in order to sell firearms.

• NRA leaders have perpetuated racist terminology like “black-on-black crime,” falsely equating men of color as “thugs,” and harmfully referred to communities of color as “violent inner cities.” In fact, the absolutely wrong idea of the “dangerous black man” was a regular part of former NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s stump speech. [1]
• A 2021 cover of Firearms News, under the theme “Be Ready,” toxically reinforced racist stereotypes by showing a man protecting his family with a rifle aimed at a presumably Latino person waving a skateboard (click the footnote links to see the actual images). [2]
• In an outrageous 2008 NRA direct mail piece, seven out of the 10 mugshots were of people of color, and asked the following racist question: “Will these Criminal Aliens cost YOU your Second Amendment rights???” [3]

The gun industry has perpetuated the unequal burden of gun violence on non-white and minority communities. Black people are 10 times [4] more likely to experience gun violence than whites, Latinos are twice as likely [5] to be shot to death than whites, and LGBTQ+ people are more than twice as likely to be a victim of gun violence than their cisgender and straight peers. [6]

Congress must let us hold weapons makers and dealers accountable! Tell Congress to stop protecting the gun industry and repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA)!

Guns and gun violence are a deadly burden unequally shared, but everyone is impacted – every single one of us. One in five Americans [7] have direct experience of gun violence, and guns have become the leading cause of child death. [8] Guns make all of us less free by exacerbating many of the issues we struggle with as a society, including:

Health Care: Each year in the U.S., firearm-related injuries lead to [9] roughly 30,000 inpatient hospital stays and 50,000 emergency room visits, generating more than $1 billion in initial medical costs and making health care more expensive for all of us. Medical spending increases an average of $2,500 per person per month [10] in the year following the injury, with patients likely to require continuing care around mental health and substance use disorders, adding to the health care burden.

Mental Health: The never-ending parade of news headlines about gun violence only adds to our fear and anxiety. Our children are already in the middle of a mental health crisis. Feelings of anxiety and stress, which get in the way of learning, are made worse by the fact that students are regularly reminded by active shooter drills at school that they are not safe. [11]

Immigration: The free flow of American firearms from U.S. gun manufacturers to Central and South America has fueled the violence pushing people out of their homes. Anti-immigrant sentiment is flaring in our country, escalating the likelihood of hate and violence against those who don’t “look American.” [12]

This June, let’s fully recognize that gun violence is a civil rights issue. We need to see with eyes wide open how guns and extreme gun culture are enemies of democracy, and begin dismantling the infrastructure facilitating that, starting with a repeal of PLCAA. Tell Congress to stop protecting the gun industry and repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA)!

As millions of guns continue to be sold into our communities and homes, we are living our lives in a rising ocean of firearms. The sheer number of guns around us and the bullying and deadly culture around gun ownership are steadily eroding our personal and public safety, and worsening our struggles to be equal and free. 

Guns and gun violence are holding back our nation’s journey to a more just and perfect union. It’s long past time to change that.

Please forward this message to everyone you know who wants accountability from the gun industry and ask them to sign too.

We’ll never stop fighting for freedom and justice for all, and for the safety of our families and communities!

In solidarity,

Gloria, Kristin, Jessica, Monifa, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team

References:
[1] “We know the NRA’s history. Yes, it’s racist,” CSGV Medium, Sept. 28, 2017.
[2] “The Gun Industry Created a New Consumer. Now It’s Killing Us,” The Atlantic, July 2022.
[3] “How the Firearms Industry and NRA Market Guns to Communities of Color,” The Violence Policy Center.
[4] “Gun violence is a racial justice issue,” Brady.
[5] Ibid.
[6] “Facts And Statistics About The Impact Of Gun Violence On LGBTQ+ People,” Sandy Hook Promise.
[7] “UChicago Harris/AP-NORC Poll: About 1 in 5 Americans Say Gun Violence Has Touched Their Lives and Even More Fear Being a Victim,” University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, Aug. 22, 2022.
[8] “Childhood’s Greatest Danger: The Data on Kids and Gun Violence,” The New York Times Magazine, Dec. 14, 2022.
[9] “Firearm Injuries: Health Care Service Needs and Costs,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, Jun. 16, 2021.
[10] “Changes in Health Care Spending, Use, and Clinical Outcomes After Nonfatal Firearm Injuries Among Survivors and Family Members: A Cohort Study,” Annals of Internal Medicine, Apr. 5, 2022.
[11] “Active Shooter Drills: First, Do No Harm,” American Psychiatric Association Foundation, May 2, 2022.
[12] “US-made guns are ripping Central America apart and driving migration north,” The Guardian, Apr. 16, 2021.

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