Hey John – I wrote to you on Monday expressing my grief over the Lunar New Year mass shooting in Monterey Park. Since then, we’ve had yet another mass shooting in California, as a gunman killed seven people in Half Moon Bay on Monday.

It says a lot about the current state of gun violence that we can’t finish grieving one tragedy before another devastating mass shooting occurs. Though my heart is heavy, in moments like these I focus on what I can do in my role to prevent future acts of gun violence.

I’ve been working on passing a federal assault weapons ban for years. These high-powered weapons are often the ones used in mass shootings, and there’s no reason these should be as accessible to the general public as they currently are. I’ll be bringing this back to the forefront of the conversation in Congress in 2023 – but I need to show my colleagues there’s a groundswell of public support behind me.

John, will you sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of this legislation? Please add your name so we can show broad grassroots support for the importance of this issue.

SIGN HERE

Hopefully, we can turn our grief towards action and help prevent future tragedies like the ones in California this past week.

Thanks,
Lucy McBath

Previous message:

John, I was heartbroken this weekend when I learned about the mass shooting in Monterey Park, CA on Saturday. Ten people were killed and several others injured after a gunman entered a dance studio where the community was celebrating the Lunar New Year.

Every time a mass shooting like this occurs a range of emotions passes over me. My first thought is pain and sympathy on behalf of the families and friends of the victims. I know all too well the devastating feelings of loss when a loved one is murdered – it’s the same feeling I had when my son Jordan was killed in 2012.

But – beyond the pain and heartbreak, I feel anger and frustration. Why? Because these tragedies are preventable, and again and again those who can help fix this epidemic fail to take action. It’s a slap in the face to everyone who’s been harmed by gun violence when extremist Republicans continue to shrug their shoulders and accept the status quo.

Want to know what the Republican Party is saying? Check out this tweet from the official GOP Twitter. 

GOP extremists think any attempt to make our communities safer after a mass shooting is a tasteless politicization of a tragedy. In reality, these crises are perpetuated by far-right Republicans’ lack of action to address the harm that unregulated guns are causing every day. They’re angry at us for trying to fix a problem that they are happy to ignore.

I refuse to stay silent while our families are being torn apart, while children are being murdered in their schools, and when gun violence has citizens living in constant fear. I won’t accept any eye-rolling from the GOP when people are dying every day and they refuse to work with us to prevent these tragedies from happening.

Gun violence prevention has been a focal point of my work in Congress since I was first elected in 2018. I’m approaching this with continued vigor in 2023, pushing for policies like assault weapons bans to keep our communities safe. On behalf of my son Jordan and everyone else who’s been harmed by gun violence – I won’t let Republicans and the gun lobby that backs them deter me from my mission.

Thanks for supporting me in my efforts, John.

– Lucy McBath