Add your name to the petition to demand Congress reinstate an assault weapons ban.

Dear MoveOn member,

The mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, is horrific, heart-wrenching, and one more reason our country needs to confront the epidemic of gun violence with every tool we have.

A Buffalo supermarket. A school in Uvalde. A Fourth of July Parade outside Chicago. A nightclub that was an oasis for the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado Springs. The tragedies are too numerous. The deaths too many. The tears and anguish boundless. And while the motives differ across these mass shootings, we do know one measure that would lessen the tolls of these attacks: reinstating the successful 1990s assault weapons ban. A vast majority of Americans agree: It's time to ban assault weapons.¹

Thoughts and prayers aren't enough. Congress must act. We had an assault weapons ban within the past two decades, and Congress must vote to reinstate it immediately.

Congress must reinstate the assault weapons ban immediately. It worked in the past and can work again. We need commonsense, impactful action to tackle gun violence. Most Americans agree: Civilians do not need military-grade weaponry.

The scenes out of Monterey Park are horrific. The community deserves an outpouring of care and compassion. In a broader sense, we need to use our tools to confront the culture of violence—and, in particular, we owe the full force of our efforts to confront a huge surge of violence against our Asian American neighbors and communities, a surge that has gone unchecked over recent years. There is so much work to be done.

Banning assault weapons will have immediate impact. It won't solve everything, but it would do so much good.

The assault weapons ban was initially supported by bipartisan consensus—and voters of all walks of life agree that AR-15s have no place in civilian life. During the George W. Bush presidency, Republicans in control of Congress let it lapse—and the results have been devastating.²

Some states, including California, have taken strong measures, but local and state efforts are not sufficient to confront the challenges. We need a federal ban on assault weapons—and while we know such a ban does not alone end the epidemic of gun violence, it is a critical component to any robust, genuine response.

Massacre after massacre occurs because of military-grade assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and the fast and deadly impact of these weapons. Without AR-15s and other assault weapons, the level of mass gun violence would drop immediately.³

Many Republican voters agree with these measures, but Republican elected officials, who are in a ghoulish embrace with the NRA and others in the gun lobby, want to talk about anything other than guns when it comes to gun violence. That's why Republican leaders need to hear loud and clear: Voters expect you to take real action and will respect you for passing an assault weapons ban and other commonsense measures.

And if you don't, we will hold you accountable.

Please add you name: Congress must reinstate the assault weapons ban immediately. And we'll make sure that Democrats know momentum is on their side to push forward, that sensible Republicans see they have the mandate to bring bipartisan support to such a measure, and that the rest of the Republicans know they'll be held accountable for choosing assault weapons over our children and communities.

Thanks for all you do.

–Justin, Sana, Oscar, Cheryl, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Polling is clear: Americans want gun control," Vox, June 1, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/163314?t=18&akid=343435%2E40999114%2EQokBzf

2. "How Congress Passed an Assault Weapons Ban in 1994," The New York Times, June 22, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/163315?t=20&akid=343435%2E40999114%2EQokBzf

3. "Assault weapon ban significantly reduces mass shooting," Northwestern Now, March 25, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/163316?t=22&akid=343435%2E40999114%2EQokBzf

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