Friend,

I want to be really clear:

It should absolutely not take a pandemic to keep our kids safe from school shootings.

Last month was the first March in nearly two decades without a school shooting in the United States. Why? Because schools across the country are closed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 -- and it should not take a once-in-a-century deadly pandemic to keep kids safe.

And we can't ignore our past: Today marks 21 years since the shooting at Columbine High School, what's come to be one of the first of far too many deadly events in our schools. We haven't made progress in 21 year -- don't our schools and kids deserve better?

We need comprehensive gun violence legislation, and we need it now. This is a moment to come together and pass commonsense laws that would expand background checks, close loopholes, and keep families safe. If you agree, add your name right now.

Guns are the second-leading cause of death among young people in the United States, right after car crashes. We've done so much to make cars safer in two decades, and yet we've done almost nothing to protect kids from gun violence.

But quarantine might just be the calm before the storm: Gun dealers around the country are seeing record numbers of customers who fear the unknown of the pandemic. That's putting kids at home at greater risk, and at greater risk for violence when they return to school.

Quarantine will end, but those guns will remain in homes across the country. 4.6 million children and teens in the United States live in homes where loaded guns are kept unsecured. What happens next? We can't wait to find out to act -- we have to act now.

Add your name next to mine to call for real, commonsense gun safety legislation to pass before our kids head back to school -- because this is too important to ignore.

Sincerely,

Chuck Schumer

ADD YOUR NAME →