John,
Eighteen years ago this week, Congress failed America.
I remember it vividly. On September 13, 2004, I had just dropped my 6-year-old daughter off at school when the radio host announced that the federal assault weapons ban had expired. I screamed at the wheel. I cried.
For years, I’d fought to prevent this moment. The shootings at Columbine High School and the North Valley Jewish Community Center were still a present fear in many parent’s minds. We knew America had to change course before Columbine became the first of many preventable tragedies. As a new mom, I wanted my daughter to grow up without fear of being shot and killed while she was at school, the movies, or the mall. So, I Ied my local Million Mom March (now Brady) chapter and made it my personal mission to ensure Congress didn’t let the assault weapons ban expire.
John, I fought like hell. I rallied. I campaigned. I canvassed. I called my members of Congress — and then I hung up and called again. With my young daughter in tow, I even protested at the U.S. Capitol, where I spoke to a crowd of thousands in my role as national spokesperson for the “Halt the Assault” rally. On the Capitol grounds that day 18 years ago, we begged Congress to renew the assault weapons ban. We warned them what would happen if they didn’t.
They didn’t listen. So, what happened next? Sandy Hook. Pulse. Parkland. Uvalde. Highland Park. Buffalo. Aurora. Poway. Vegas. Tree of Life. Odessa. Dayton.
The list of heinous attacks in which gunmen wielded military-grade assault rifles goes on and on. And it will keep growing until Congress bans these weapons of war, once and for all. We know an assault weapons ban saves lives. When the ban was in effect from 1994-2004, America saw a 37% decline in gun massacres and a 70% decline in assault weapons traced to crime. In the decade after the ban expired, America saw a 347% increase in gun massacre deaths. Today, 18 years after the assault weapons ban expired, mass shootings in America have tripled.
It pains me to think of all of the lives that could have been saved if we still had an assault weapons ban. But we aren’t powerless to stop these tragedies. Right now, legislation to ban assault weapons is sitting in the U.S. Senate. Please, contact your senators now. Urge them to do what they should have done 18 years ago. Urge them to ban these weapons of war and save lives.
Thank you for never stopping fighting with me.
In solidarity,
