Friends -
This past week, the familiar knot in our stomachs returned.
Monday, a man in Boulder shot and killed 10 people at a grocery store. This came less than a week after a man in Georgia murdered eight people, including six Asian women. Our thoughts are with both of those communities.
These shootings are a gut punch and lay bare the impacts of the compounding crises facing our nation.
Over the past year, as the economy worsened and tensions rose, gun sales increased by an astronomical 40 percent, and not coincidentally, gun murders increased by 25 percent.
Maybe 2020 didn't include as many mass shootings as we have become accustomed to, but the daily pace of gun crime was off the charts. And no wonder. Congress, through its inaction, continues to send an unintended but meaningful message of endorsement to would-be killers. When Congress doesn't do anything year after year, decade after decade, it looks like a signal of approval.
But we do not have to accept this result. Today, our movement is stronger than the gun lobby. They are weak. We are potent. We finally have a President and a Congress that supports gun reform.
This is the moment to make our stand and break the cycle of inaction and numbness. NOW.
The two most significant drops in rates of American gun violence in the last 100 years came immediately following the two most significant gun law reforms passed by Congress. That's not a coincidence.
Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee took the first step and held a hearing on gun violence. Next, I'm going to fight to get a vote in the Senate on expanding background checks. Our movement's job here is to keep the pressure on. I need you to make clear to my colleagues that people in every state and district are crying out for change.
Every best wish,
Chris Murphy
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If you want to take action to help end gun violence, please consider supporting organizations that are leading the fight. Will you split a donation between the Newtown Action Alliance, Sandy Hook Promise and Connecticut Against Gun Violence?
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