John—
News just broke that the white men who shot and killed Ahmaud Arbery—a Black man who was jogging through a Brunswick, Georgia neighborhood—have been found guilty.
No verdict can bring Ahmaud back, but we are grateful that the jury provided accountability in this case.
Now, we must work as a movement to defeat the laws that emboldened and enabled the people who murdered him. We cannot continue to accept living in a country where our laws allow armed white men to target and kill Black people and other people of color with impunity.
Join us in our fight: Sign the petition to show that you oppose deadly "Shoot First" laws across the country.
While the people who murdered Ahmaud are being held accountable, this verdict is a rare exception. In states with so-called Stand Your Ground laws, or "Shoot First" laws, homicides in which white shooters kill Black victims are deemed justifiable five times more frequently than when the situation is reversed.
To make matters worse, the gun lobby's allies are working to pass more of these laws in multiple states—just as they have in Georgia. They are a license to kill, giving people the notion that they can shoot first and ask questions later.
Sign the petition to show you're in this fight: I oppose deadly "Shoot First" laws.
We're taking action for the countless people who are gone because someone thought they had a license to kill. Ahmaud Arbery—and so many others—should be alive today.
Thank you for being a part of this critical work.
Monisha Henley
She/her
Senior Director, State Government Affairs
Everytown for Gun Safety
