We and our children are trapped in a national health emergency. Our right to life has been subordinated to the gun industry’s right to sell deadly weapons without restraint of any kind, while mass shootings accelerate and gun-related killings and suicides intensify. Thanks to the bold leadership of Senator Feinstein and others, President Clinton’s Anti-Crime Bill of 1994 included an assault weapons ban, but to secure enough Republican votes, that ban had to include a “sunset clause.” During the second Bush administration, Republicans allowed that ban to expire in spite of Democrats’ attempts to extend it.
The National Rifle Association—the gun manufacturers’ lobby—has convinced Republicans to parrot its talking point that any regulation of firearms will inevitably lead to the confiscation of all guns. The NRA’s marketing has become more extreme over the past decade as it has been plagued with scandal and the rise of mass shootings has driven down membership. But its intense propaganda effort has shown Republicans that frenzied fear of the "encroaching other" is a powerful motivator, driving people up to and including insurrection to overturn the will of the majority of voters.
We do not believe that the Senate will enact an effective bipartisan bill to protect us with sensible gun safety. Been there, done that—remember how 20 children were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, and Republicans still defeated the bipartisan Manchin-Toomey bill in April of 2013?
Congress must stop accepting a status quo where the will of a majority of Senators, who collectively represent some 194 million Americans, can be overruled by a minority that represents 76 million fewer people and is willing to let chaotic fanatics armed with weapons of war threaten our lives.
We think we are protected by our state laws, but gun lobbyists have teed up legal challenges to weaken or overturn those laws when they reach the Supreme Court. This summer, the right wing supermajority SCOTUS will be ruling on a challenge to a century-old law in New York that requires a special license to carry a gun in public.
Join us and gun safety groups nationwide in urging President Biden to declare a national health emergency due to gun violence, name a Director of Gun Violence Prevention, and issue executive orders to curb gun violence until we have voted in more responsible Senators and Representatives in the 2022 Blue Wave to codify those measures.
Tell President Biden: Declare a national health emergency due to gun violence, and take executive action to protect us!
This is the LAST WEEK to vote in the primary election!
The election ends on June 7, and you should have already received your ballot. Mail your ballot ASAP to make sure it arrives in time to be counted. As usual, we have much more info on our blog and at https://indivisiblesf.org/vote. We also have links to some voter guides, so if you’re stuck, check those out.
We’ve endorsed No on Prop H. Chesa Boudin has been doing his job well as our District Attorney, and we want to keep him working to make our City safer. Read our blog post for more info.
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If you’re interested in participating in activities like drafting letters to our Members of Congress and developing our strategy for influencing them, the Indivisible SF Federal Working Group is where it happens. Our next meeting is on Thursday, May 26. Details on how to register below.
ISF Federal Working Group meeting: Thursday, June 9, 7:30–9 PM. Register here to join our regular Zoom meeting, where we work together to develop strategies for influencing our Members of Congress and the Biden administration to support a progressive agenda. All are welcome to participate and contribute, even if you’ve never attended an ISF meeting before.
Bay Area Coalition Phone Banks: Wednesdays and Saturdays. Our friends at Swing Left need your help talking to voters about the upcoming primaries and midterms. Join Swing Left and the Bay Area Coalition on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings to make calls to voters in California and around the nation. Sign up for a shift:
- TODAY, Wednesday, June 1, 5–7 PM
- Saturday, June 4, 10 AM–12 PM
- Wednesday, June 8, 5–7 PM
ACLU text and phone banks against the SF DA recall: Wednesdays. Every Wednesday until the end of the election, the ACLU of Northern California is hosting phone banks asking voters to vote No on Prop H. Defeating Prop H keeps San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin working for justice and equity from the DA’s office. Sign up for a shift:
- TODAY, Wednesday, June 1, 5:30–8 PM
- Thursday, June 2, 5:30–8 PM
- Saturday, June 4, 1–3:30 PM
- Sunday, June 5, 1–3:30 PM
Voter registration drive in the California Central Valley with Swing Left: Saturdays. Swing Left needs your help registering voters in Central Valley CD-13 and CD-22, from Modesto to Bakersfield. They will conduct door-to-door and COVID-safe canvassing to register voters every weekend until November 8. Sign up here:
- Saturday, June 4, 9 AM–3:30 PM
- Saturday, June 11, 9 AM–3:30 PM
- Saturday, June 25, 9 AM–3:30 PM
About this week’s photo
If you’ve seen our newsletter posts on Twitter and Facebook, you might have noticed that we include a photo or graphic with each issue.
Today’s image is a social media graphic from the Brady Campaign from their tweet with 5 ways to take action against gun violence.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
If you'd like to support our all-volunteer team:
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