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Dear Friend,
Last night, my body was numb as I watched the news coming out of Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old opened fire in Robb Elementary School. By the time I went to bed, the death count had risen to 20, 18 of them children. [1]
We’ve seen this before at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, when a murderer shot and killed 20 second graders and six educators. [2] We just saw this in the recent terrorist attack at a Buffalo grocery store – motivated by vile white supremacy, racism and hate – where 10 people were shot to death. [3] Each school and mass shooting devastates families and communities in their wake, and they're happening with increasing regularity. In 2022 alone, there had already been 27 school shootings – and over 200 mass shootings where four or more people were injured or killed – before Uvalde. [4]
Over the last 10 years since Sandy Hook, while students, parents and community members have pushed key lawmakers to help fix our broken nation, change has not been happening soon enough. The gun lobby continues to have an oversized reach, the Republicans have embraced a deadly “guns everywhere” culture, and we are losing the community safety we need and deserve. We can’t even get stronger background checks on gun sales, which 90% of voters support. [5]
It's intolerable that our children aren't safe in their schools. It’s reprehensible that our freedoms – including the freedom of our children to grow into healthy adults – are being taken away by our “guns & high capacity magazines everywhere” culture.
We need comprehensive gun policy reform, including stronger background checks and banning assault rifles and high-capacity weapons. But we will never get it unless we begin dismantling the extreme gun culture we have today, starting with voting out elected leaders in thrall to the gun lobby.
A majority of Republicans in office have not only so far blocked policy solutions to our gun violence epidemic, but have enthusiastically helped build the “guns everywhere” society. They are among the loudest voices touting individual gun rights – fake “rights” bought and paid for and meticulously constructed over the last 40 years by gun manufacturers and the gun lobby, like the NRA. [6] Furthermore, the gun lobby, aided by Republican leaders, has been methodically dismantling the few flimsy barriers that existed to guard against dangerous gun ownership, making the gun market a free-for-all in many states. In fact, less than a year ago, Texas Governor Abbott – the very one now sending thoughts and prayers to Texans in Uvalde – signed into law “permitless carry,” which eliminated licensing and training requirements for people to carry around handguns. [7] Permitless carry has been passed in 25 states. [8]
Elected leaders like Republican Governor Abbott have helped flood our communities with lethal firearms, and built a gun culture that encourages too many whose first thought is to reach for firearms as the solution to any problem. With more than 400,000,000 guns in circulation, [9] we have more guns than people in this country. And, as we have seen over and over again, there are all too many men, including the Uvalde shooter, ready to use those guns to harm people – in schools, grocery stores, places of worship, public parks, and other everyday places where people are just living their lives. Because of the actions of elected leaders like Republican Governor Abbott, we are a country swimming in guns, with record numbers of gun deaths and injuries that continue to climb, with no end in sight. [10]
What does holding them accountable mean? It means I will watch what lawmakers are doing (or not doing) to protect our children and communities, and remember if they vote to stop high capacity magazines, advance effective background checks, and work for community safety – and then I will cast my ballot accordingly this November. It also means I will make phone calls, send text messages, knock on doors, and mobilize as many voters as possible who feel as I do to begin taking power away from those leaders who do not adequately represent us or protect us from harm, and replace them with leaders who do.
“Guns everywhere” has not made us safer. In fact, just the opposite. “Guns everywhere” is killing our children and destroying our families and communities. This is not the Second Amendment right envisioned by the Founding Fathers. This is not how we build a more perfect union. This is how we destroy our union from the inside out.
Exacting accountability starts now. Mobilizing starts now. Click here to join me and take the vow too – and then forward this message to everyone you know who is shaking with anger about those elected leaders who are utterly failing to protect our children and communities from gun violence. Ask them to sign on and take the vow too.
We’ll never stop fighting for the safety of our families and loved ones. Together, we can take away the power of useless lawmakers in the thrall of the gun lobby, replace them with lawmakers who protect us and our children, and dismantle the extreme “guns everywhere” culture.
– Gloria, Kristin, Nate, Ruth, Xochitl, Donna, Monifa, and the entire MomsRising/MamásConPoder team
*Pol. Adv. paid for by MomsRising Together.
[1] “19 children, 2 teachers killed in Texas elementary school shooting,” NBCNews.com, May 25, 2022.
[2] “Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting,” Wikipedia.
[3] “Gunman Kills 10 at Buffalo Supermarket in Racist Attack,” The New York Times, May 14, 2022.
[4] “27 school shootings have taken place so far this year,” NPR.org, May 25, 2022.
[5] “90 percent of Americans "support universal background checks" for gun purchases,” Oct. 2, 2017.
[6] “How the NRA Rewrote the Second Amendment,” Brennan Center for Justice.
[7] “Texans can carry handguns without a license or training starting Sept. 1, after Gov. Greg Abbott signs permitless carry bill into law,” June 16, 2021.
[8] “Frequently Asked Questions About Permitless Carry,” Center for American Progress, May 2, 2022.
[9] “U.S. Gun Production Triples Since 2000, Fueled by Handgun Purchases,” The New York Times, May 17, 2022.
[10] “What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.,” Feb. 3, 2022.
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