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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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