As we enter the holiday season, we’re giving thanks where it is due.
We join Moms Demand Action and other advocacy groups in applauding Senators John Cornyn and Chris Murphy (D-CT) for introducing bipartisan legislation to improve the criminal background check system.
We also call on Ted Cruz to join his fellow Texas senator and add his name to the bill. 90% of Americans support universal background checks for all gun sales; tightening this legislation this should be a no-brainer for all lawmakers.
Almost 10 percent of Sutherland Springs’ population was wounded or murdered by gunfire. We need to break the kabuki-theater cycle of: People get shot, we call for action, they call for thoughts and prayers, we condemn their inaction and thoughts and prayers as useless and demand legislation, they say it’s too soon to politicize it, the NRA does something stupid or nothing at all.
This bill is a small step in the right direction.
As Angela Turner, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action says, “This bill alone will not solve our gun violence epidemic, but it will make common sense improvements to the background check system, help keep guns away from domestic abusers and criminals, and ultimately, save lives. Congress should set politics aside, and pass this into law.”
Script for Senator John Cornyn
Thank you for working across the aisle on commonsense gun legislation. A majority of mass shooters in this country have histories of domestic violence, and we’re glad that Sen. Cornyn is working in a bipartisan way to address gaps in the background check system that allow people with dangerous histories to obtain firearms. We hope this signals a willingness to take additional steps to confront the epidemic of gun violence in our country.
Script for Senator Ted Cruz
Your colleague, John Cornyn, has cosponsored a bipartisan bill to address gaps in the background check system that allow people with dangerous histories to obtain firearms. I encourage Sen. Cruz to join his colleague and add his name to this bill. Almost 10 percent of Sutherland Springs’ population was wounded or murdered by gunfire. If that is not enough to get Senator Cruz’s attention on gun violence, then what is?
Join us on Saturday, Nov. 18 to demand that Ted Cruz give NRA blood money to victims of gun violence
This may be TMI, but here is the message I wrote to Mr Cornyn earlier today.
Finally, FINALLY you have done something I can thank you for!
THANK YOU for introducing the bipartisan legislation re gun permitting and reporting of domestic violence histories.
It is a tiny step in the right direction, and I’m very glad you’ve taken it. I will do all I can (which, admittedly, isn’t much other than praying) that the bill passes. The part about including funding to help entities abide by the law is particularly helpful, and I hope it stays.
Your measure would not have kept my brother from having killed himself after a history of domestic violence. He was never convicted of it, as his family members were unwilling to press charges, though he spent time in a local jail for it.
If he had not had access to a gun, he might not have gone on to kill himself. Or maybe he would have found other means –perhaps, like the young man who tried to kill himself by driving head-on into my mother’s car. (Airbags saved both their lives.) That man can’t drive anymore. He has no license, and he is in prison. His car, obviously, is long gone.
I don’t know what became of the gun that took my brother’s life. Maybe it’s in an evidence closet somewhere. Maybe it’s gone to auction and is in the hands of someone else, quite legally.
I think our country would be a better, healthier place with many fewer guns in circulation.
To that end, and without diminishing the thanks I extend for what you’ve done so far, I challenge you and your fellow Congress members to sponsor gun-turn-in campaigns. You have the power. You can do it, and we will all be a little safer if you do.
— a constituent, and a person whose life has been impacted by gun violence