All of the work we’ve done collectively to address our gun violence crisis is on the line, not to mention all the reforms we hope to achieve in the future. We’re diving deep into how our collective power could save thousands of lives and make us all safer by ensuring our next Governor is Josh Shapiro. |
We endorsed Josh Shapiro last week, and it’s a decision we were deeply proud to make. Attorney General Shapiro’s opponent, Doug Mastriano, is wildly dangerous for our collective safety, but we did not just endorse him to protect ourselves from that reality. The truth is that AG Shapiro has been with our community of advocates from the very beginning of his political career, voting with us as a state representative, fighting for community violence prevention as a Montgomery County commissioner, and prioritizing this work every day as our attorney general.
Let us know you’re with Josh. We need to be able to count on your vote to get him across the finish line.
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If we don’t work our hardest, the absolute worst possible outcome is completely plausible. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania, is a key sponsor of all the most dangerous bills you could imagine that would exacerbate gun violence.
He is the prime sponsor of concealed permitless carry laws, which would effectively allow guns in high volumes into every public space you could imagine. He wants to arm teachers and school staff, while drastically slashing school budgets, endangering the lives of students and our communities. This past month, he invested $5,000 in campaign funds campaigning on the extreme site Gab, where the Tree of Life shooter found community and posted his anti-Semitic screeds before killing eleven people in Pittsburgh.
As governor, if we don’t do all the work we can, Mastriano would hold the veto pen, the power that Governor Wolf has had to use so many times to protect us from further exacerbation of community violence. If we lose this race, any shot of progress is over, and any chance of protection from the absolute worst violence imaginable would be off the table. |
Our momentum is real, but we cannot take anything for granted.
Let’s really absorb all the accomplishments we have worked together to create over the last year.
We got President Biden’s nominee to #LeadtheATF confirmed by the US Senate. This nominee will be the first person to hold that position since before President Obama left office.
We passed a historic budget this summer adding $105 million in investments toward community violence prevention, creating a total level of investment so far to $175 million for Pennsylvania communities.
We passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a bill that pushes states to enact extreme risk protection order legislation, closes the boyfriend loophole, adds mental health infrastructure, and makes it more difficult for young people with a history of violence to get a firearm.
Just in the last few weeks, we passed an Assault Weapons Ban bill through the US House of Representatives, legislation that has been treated like the third rail for decades.
And still, every day, people are dying, and false talking points and political tactics are pushed to delay progress on this issue and endanger lives.
These are the actions of people in their last months or years of political power, losing the public narrative. They’re making some compromises, thinking that will pacify the public for another few decades, and they are wrong. |
We are winning victories even within a system that is completely rigged against our Commonwealth. Until now, we voted within legislative maps at the state and national level that were completely gerrymandered.
Until 2020, we had minimal opportunities for secure early voting, and so many voters in our communities were left out of the conversation during each election. Laws in Pennsylvania must be passed with the full support of the majority leadership of our General Assembly, who rake in campaign dollars from interests who are invested in allowing gun violence to continue.
We have fair maps. We have accessible voting for all. The public is getting the opportunity to see how callously those in majority leadership are preventing even basic discussion on gun policies, and voters will get to cast a ballot in just a few months’ time. What will be the result of that election?
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Deep-pocketed investments, as well as the fear of those investments, from the National Rifle Association, have influenced gun policy for our entire lives.
At the federal level, Pennsylvania ranks 10th in the nation in terms of political investment by the NRA toward our congressional representatives, according to recent reporting by the Bucks County Courier Times.
Senator Pat Toomey, who portrays himself publicly as a reasonable partner on gun violence prevention, is the eleventh most compensated US senator from the National Rifle Association. |
These campaign contributions have a seismic impact on each and every one of our lives. It influences what scientific research can be permitted, our community policing policies as a state and country, and how gender and racial minorities are endangered on a daily basis. In the PA General Assembly, it profoundly constricts the entire conversation, and as we reported to you a few months ago as it happened, it even impacts what bills can even be discussed at the committee level. We can’t even get widely supported bills discussed in committee meetings, let alone brought to the PA House or Senate floor for a vote.
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Four years ago, we got to see a crack in the armor of those working to allow gun violence in our communities to continue. With the passage of Act 79, right before the 2018 midterms, political cynics may have seen an attempt to lessen the political blow to lawmakers seeking re-election. This law sought to create more urgent action when a person is stuck in the cycles of domestic violence and in need of support. Upon the passage of this law, those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses would be required to relinquish any firearms in their possession.
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We’re now about to head into a similar moment, a midterm, where the opinions of constituents can create more influence, and we have one more stretch of legislative days coming before voters cast ballots. |
In the days ahead, we’re going to be revealing our top-priority endorsements in the PA General Assembly. These are key community partners all across the Commonwealth who will work together with Josh Shapiro to pass a wave of great bills to end gun violence in our communities. Make a donation right now to bolster our electoral program.
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P.O. Box 60095
Philadelphia, PA 19102
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