Sunday, June 9, 2013

Add your name to my Background Check letter to Congress!

On June 12 and 13 I will be traveling to Washington, D.C. with the Newtown Action Alliance to hand-deliver letters to members of Congress, asking them to vote for universal background checks for all firearm purchases, legislation supported by nine out of ten Americans.  The letter I will be delivering is below.

I'm trying to add as many names as possible to the letter, so please add yours.  Add a comment to this post with your name, city and state, or send me a message via Facebook or email.

IF YOU WANT TO BE INCLUDED, PLEASE RESPOND by Tuesday morning, June 11.




A Plea to Pass Universal Background Checks and other Common-Sense Gun Regulation

Dear Senator/Representative:

Gun rights advocates are quick to use the Constitution to defend unfettered access to even the most lethal firearms. But before the Constitution came the Declaration of Independence, which asserts that we are endowed with certain unalienable rights, including those of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It continues, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted…”
It is time now for the federal government to protect our right to be free of gun violence. It is time for you and the U.S. Congress to put this right on the same high pedestal it affords the right to bear arms. It is time for you to heed Supreme Court Justice Scalia who said “like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” The Court was clear about the need for gun regulation: “…nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on … laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”  The Court even goes so far as to recognize the right of government to prohibit “the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons’.”
Right now we are urging you to vote for comprehensive universal background checks for all firearm purchases.  Common sense regulation, starting with universal background checks, is urgently needed to protect the lives of Americans in their places of work, houses of worship, shopping centers, movie theaters, parks and schools. 
It is completely indefensible that Congress cannot pass universal background checks when an overwhelming majority of Americans support this common sense measure. Universal background checks will not restrict the ability of law-abiding citizens to own guns, any more so than vehicle registration makes it impossible to own a car or TSA security checks make it impossible to board a plane.
Beyond simply extending background checks for all gun sales, you must close loopholes and strengthen reporting requirements. The federal government has spent trillions on the war on terror, yet people on the F.B.I. terrorist watch list are legally entitled to buy firearms, which they have been cleared to do more than 1,000 times in the past ten years.
Some defend the status quo by claiming that common sense gun regulation, including background checks, won't protect Americans from all incidents of gun violence.  President Obama in his State of the Union address said what is obvious:  "Our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country.  In fact, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative acts will perfectly solve all the challenges ... But we were never sent here to be perfect.  We were sent here to make what difference we can..."
It is time for you to make a difference in the epidemic of gun violence that claims more than 30,000 American lives every year. You need to vote for comprehensive universal background checks along the lines of the Manchin-Toomey proposal (not the misleading and ineffective Grassley-Cruz amendment).
Beyond background checks for firearm purchases, we urge you to require similar background checks for the purchase of ammunition. We know that even with stringent purchase requirements, criminals will come into possession of guns. Adding another layer of defense is a common sense measure you should support to save lives. To protect their safety, Americans get physician approval nearly three billion times a year to purchase prescription drugs.  Why is it any more intrusive or inconvenient to require gun owners to get approval to buy ammunition to protect our safety?

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