Friend,

19 children and 2 teachers. We mourn them and their families, and other survivors traumatized by yesterday’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas at Rodd Elementary School.

The attack came nearly 10 years after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, and 10 days after a racist massacre in Buffalo, NY where 10 Black people were killed and another 3 injured as it was live-streamed on Twitch.

The shooting in Uvalde is the second-deadliest school shooting on record in the U.S.

We cannot normalize this. If we do, gun violence will only increase.

Unlike other peer countries that have rallied together in the wake of tragedies to pass national gun safety policies, not much has changed in the U.S. since Sandy Hook.

That’s because of the powerful gun lobby and the Republican Party, who are trying to push even more guns on U.S. residents, even though we have the highest gun ownership rate globally, by far—with more guns than people.

As Manuel Oliver, the parent of one of the teenagers murdered in Parkland, Florida, said: “It's about money. It's about interests. It's about power."

This Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Ted Cruz are scheduled to speak at the National Rifle Association annual convention in Houston, Texas.  

Governor Abbott has pushed Texans to buy more guns and has bragged about how people don’t need a license or training to carry a gun in Texas. What he had to offer to grieving families yesterday was just more “thoughts and prayers.”

Meanwhile, Senator Cruz complained about people wanting to pass gun safety laws as “politicizing” the issue.

Well, it is political.

Republicans in Congress have refused to protect children. Many of those who’ve posted about being heartbroken in the past day have also received thousands or even millions of dollars from the gun lobby, and have worked hard to block gun safety laws. They are complicit.  

We’ll likely hear outrageous comments from them along the lines of what Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Fox News: “We can't stop bad people from doing bad things. We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly.”

This means not only accepting the status quo, but trying for EVEN MORE guns. The right-wing worships violence, as we’ve seen with the GOP’s idolization of people like Kyle Rittenhouse. They care about the “freedom” to kill. Not about the freedom to live.

Enough is enough! Our children have the right to live and to go to school safely. How many more people have to die before our country takes on gun violence?

We have passed basic gun safety legislation in the House, but it’s been stalled in the undemocratic Senate. We deserve better. We deserve a government that represents the people’s will, including our will to live. We need Senators to act on this, or they shouldn't be in office.

Please sign and share if you agree: We must make changes ASAP. It’s time for federal gun safety laws.

In mourning and solidarity,

Rashida