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Dear Friend,
Just a few hours ago, President Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first piece of gun legislation passed by Congress in almost 30 years.
We are cheering on the new law. As we cheer, we’re also strengthening our resolve to keep pushing for comprehensive gun safety measures, because, as even President Biden acknowledged, though the new law matters, “...it’s not enough.” *
We need your help keeping up the momentum. So I’m forwarding the below action to make sure you see it. Our hearts are still aching over the Buffalo, Uvalde, and Highland Park mass shootings (scroll down for more details). And we continue to be terrified for the safety of our own loved ones and communities as, barely halfway through 2022, more than 20,000 people have already lost their lives due to firearms. **
We can’t be silent. We must demand real leadership from our elected leaders. It’s urgent - the lives of our children and families are increasingly at risk in our increasingly violent, armed society.
-Gloria
* “‘It matters, but it’s not enough,’ Biden says of new gun law,” The Washington Post, July 11, 2022.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Gloria, MomsRising.org <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Jul 5, 2022 at 6:00 PM
Subject: Quick signature to ban military-style assault weapons and high-cap magazines now!
To: Gloria <[email protected]>
Dear Gloria,
A Fourth of July neighborhood parade. Another young white man with a military-style semi-automatic assault rifle, who, this time, killed six people and injured 26 more, many of them children. [1] Our scarred hearts are again aching for the victims, their families, and the Highland Park community.
There’s no good reason for civilians to own high-capacity magazines and weapons designed for war, especially civilian young men who could barely be considered adults.
The Highland Park mass shooting occurred mere weeks after the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings, and barely a week after President Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, [2] the first anti-gun violence legislation to come out of Congress in a generation. While we are grateful for any progress on gun policy reform, the new law takes just baby steps – it will do very little to curb our epidemic of gun violence and stop the parade of young men with assault rifles from becoming mass murderers.
According to the FBI, mass shootings (or “active shooter” events with more than three deaths) are happening with increasing regularity. The number of mass shootings in 2021 was 52% higher than 2020 and about double each of the three previous years. [3] In the United States, military-style semi-automatic assault weapons are used in the majority of mass shootings, [4] and the majority of mass shooters obtain their deadly weapons legally due to our lax laws. [5]
Meanwhile, our overall epidemic of gun violence, of which high-profile mass shootings are only a small fraction, continues to rise. In 2020, the last year with complete data, gun deaths exceeded 45,000, representing a 14% increase from the year before, a 25% increase from five years earlier, and a 43% increase from a decade prior. [6]
We must demand true leadership from our elected representatives in order to rein in our rising gun violence epidemic. We need comprehensive reform, not just baby steps. It’s urgent – the lives of our children and families are increasingly at risk in our increasingly violent, armed society.
*Please forward this email to everyone you know who is concerned about gun violence, and ask them to sign too. The more of us who take action and speak out, the faster we can move gun safety policy forward and save lives.
We will never stop fighting for the safety of our families and communities.
In solidarity and love,
– Gloria, Kristin, Donna, Monifa, Jessica, and the entire MomsRising/MamásConPoder team
[1] “Highland Park parade shooting was planned for weeks; gunman dressed like a woman during the rampage, police say,” NBCNews.com, July 5, 2022.
[2] “What Will the First Federal Gun Reform Law in Three Decades Actually Do?” The Trace, July 1, 2022.
[3] “US saw sharp rise in ‘active shooter’ incidents in 2021, FBI data shows,” The Guardian, May 25, 2022.
[4] Mother Jones: A Guide to Mass Shootings in America
[5] Ibid.
[6] “What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.,” Pew Research Center, February 3, 2022.
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