On Tuesday, a young man killed 19 children and 2 teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas.
Just 10 days earlier, a different young man killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
This note could go on and on with similar sentences, because we live in a country where mass shootings have become sickeningly routine — even as the pain and trauma for victims, their families, and communities all across America are anything but.
Instead, I want to highlight one startling fact:
Guns have become the leading cause of death among children in our country.
Not disease.
Not malnutrition.
Not accidents. (Auto accidents had been the leading cause of death among children for decades until overtaken by guns in 2020.)
Tuesday night, President Biden asked the nation:
“Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone?”
Indeed.
- Poll after poll after poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans — at least 8 out of 10 — want stronger background checks for gun purchases.
- Even 3 out of 4 NRA members support background checks for *all* gun purchases. Yes, NRA members!
- In 2019, and again in 2021, the House of Representatives passed two bills that would make beyond-commonsense improvements to the background check system.
- One bill would expand criminal background checks to those seeking to buy guns online or at gun shows.
- The other bill would extend the waiting period for potential buyers flagged by the instant background check system so that the FBI has more time to investigate.
- But those bills stalled out in the Senate due to rank partisan obstructionism by Republicans. (Of course.)
- Senate Democrats are ready to try again, in the hope — slim though it may be — that this latest massacre will at last move some Republicans to do the right thing.
To Every Republican Senator:
Are you ever going to stand up to the gun lobby and the tiny minority of Americans who think there should be no restrictions on guns whatsoever? If you actually care about saving lives and doing what the vast majority of your constituents want you to do, you have a moral and political duty to pass commonsense legislation that will improve background checks for potential gun buyers.
Add your name now.
Thank you for taking action.
For progress,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
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