On March 27, a shooter carrying assault-style rifles fatally shot three students and three teachers at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. There have been at least 130 mass shootings so far this year.
I can't say it better than Moms Demand Action, so I won't try. This is an excerpt from an email sent in the wake of the shooting.
Enough was enough when gun violence became the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States.
Enough was enough when just one community was devastated by a shooting.
Enough was enough when three children and three adults at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee were shot and killed [Monday] morning.
Every day Congress refuses to take action, they choose this fate for our children, communities, and country. Thoughts and prayers cannot replace action. For this epidemic to end, Congress must intervene.
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Sign the petition to Congress: Pass an assault weapons ban NOW!
Time and time again, assault weapons are used in the deadliest mass shootings in America. Between 2009 and 2018, assault weapons accounted for 25% of deaths and 76% of nonfatal injuries in mass shootings. They are uniquely lethal, allowing the most murders in the shortest amount of time.
As Daily Kos' Walter Einenkel notes, not only are Republicans refusing to do something to stop the number one killer of children ages 1 through 18 in the United States, they have promoted gun violence by loosening their already tepid gun safety laws: "We have tried nothing and nothing has worked. This is the general refrain from conservatives about gun violence in our country. It is also the refrain from conservatives about income inequality, housing, living wages, health care costs, social security, education, and just about any pressing issue our country has faced since Ronald Reagan rode his great head of hair into the White House." This is the party that can manufacture crisis after crisis while refusing to do anything when it comes to real life-and-death issues.
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Banning assault weapons saves lives. One 2019 study found that the 1994 federal assault weapons ban reduced the risk of a person in the U.S. dying from a mass shooting by 70%. Both the number of deaths and the number of annual incidents decreased significantly. When the law expired in 2004, there was a huge increase in mass shooting casualties due to assault weapons.
The positive effect of banning assault weapons is especially evident when you compare the number of mass shootings in the U.S. to our peer nations. Not only is the U.S. at the top of the list, but we have about four times more mass shootings than the number two nation on that list, Russia.
Sending our children to school should not be a life-threatening decision. Going to a movie should not be a life-threatening decision. Grocery shopping, attending worship services, or simply going to work should not be life-threatening decisions. The cycle of death and destruction followed by thoughts, prayers, and legislation to further weaken our gun laws can end. America's gun violence epidemic is not inevitable.
Congress must act responsibly and enact a federal assault weapons ban. If they fail to act, state legislatures must step in with a ban in their states. Washington and Illinois have already initiated such measures. Other states must follow suit. We can also hold accountable gun industry executives and manufacturers who have flooded our communities with guns. We can make it harder to obtain firearms. There's an entire list of options that would make us all safer.
Previous public outcries have led to action. Thanks to relentless advocacy, President Joe Biden has used the full extent of executive power to take action. In the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, we passed the first major gun safety legislation in roughly three decades. There's more to do. And we need to do it now. Enough is enough already.
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Sign the petition to Congress: Thoughts and prayers are not enough