Friend,

Classrooms across Pennsylvania are reopening this fall. Along with mask mandates and worries about infection, our children return to active shooter drills and fears of the next school shooting. The United States saw a record 14 school shootings this spring even while COVID kept many schools closed. What will the fall bring?

Children and teachers shouldn’t have to prepare to face assault rifles. Click here to tell PA Senator Pat Toomey to support universal background checks that keep deadly firearms away from would-be mass shooters. 

More than a quarter-million children have been directly exposed to school shootings since Columbine.[2] Along with the trauma of the shootings themselves, active shooter drills nationwide are associated with stress, anxiety, and depression among schoolchildren, parents, and school staff.[3] 

We need to prevent gun violence from reaching schools in the first place, through measures like background checks, which many previous mass shooters would not have passed.[4] In Pennsylvania, anyone can purchase a long gun such as an assault rifle—the weapon of choice for mass shootings—online or at a gun show with no background check.[5] According to an Everytown investigation, around 10% of those trying to make a purchase through the nation’s largest online gun marketplace are people who cannot legally own a firearm, such as those convicted of violent assault or those who have been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility.[6]

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill this spring that would mandate background checks for ALL gun sales, no matter where they take place. But PA Senator Pat Toomey has refused to back the bill in the Senate, despite his former efforts to strengthen background checks.[7] Universal background checks have the support of 89% of Americans, including 85% of gun owners.[8] What is Senator Toomey waiting for?

Tell Senator Toomey to support H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021.

“We can control, to a significant degree, our exposure to the coronavirus,” writes high school senior Vedika Jawa in the Atlantic.[9] “But there is nothing students can do to protect ourselves from a school shooting. The responsibility for this danger lies solely in the hands of our government.”

We need your help to urge Senator Toomey to act.

Thank you,

Josh Fleitman
CeaseFirePA Western PA Manager

[1] "Active shooter drills have become common in Pittsburgh-area schools but mental health effects remain unknown." PublicSource, August 14, 2021.
[2] "US sees record school shootings since March as students struggle with return from pandemic." The Hill, June 24, 2021
[3] "The Impact of Active Shooter Drills in Schools." Everytown Research & Policy, September 3, 2020.
[4] "Mass Shootings in America." Everytown Research & Policy, November 21, 2020 (updated June 14, 2021).
[5] "Fact Sheet: Background Checks and Pennsylvania." Everytown for Gun Safety, April 20, 2021.
[6] "Unchecked: An Investigation of the Online Firearm Marketplace." Everytown Research & Policy, February 1, 2021
[7] "The House just passed universal background checks for gun sales — again." Vox, March 11, 2021.
[8] "Majority Support Stricter Gun Laws, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Stark Divides On Views Of Police And Voting Issues." Quinnipiac University Poll, April 15, 2021.
[9] "I’m Not Afraid of COVID-19. I’m Afraid of School Shootings." The Atlantic, August 16, 2021.