Writing for change: #EndGunViolenceNOW
I woke up this morning to the news that America’s newest (i.e. most recent) deadliest shooting took place last night in an Orlando nightclub.
This is unacceptable.
As a nation, we’ve dropped the ball on gun control too many times already. (Most notably, after Sandy Hook.) And, as one of my friends shared on social media, I think this sentiment is apt:
“Every time we leave our laws unchanged WE are the ones who make their deaths meaningless.”
I don’t really care what your personal opinions are on gun control, gun owners’ “rights,” or the gay community as a whole. None of that matters. What does matter is getting the guns off our streets. (And, yes, I do recognize that this very large, hot-button issue also contains tons of other issues, including education, anger management, LGBT rights and tons more, but I’m not going to get into ANY of that right now, and I would hope you can understand why.)
My one and only point today is to urge you, my fellow Americans, to write a letter to your Congresspeople to insist on gun control. To call them. To tweet to them. To take action, instead of remaining silent.
Here’s a sample letter that I sent to all of my official representatives, which I urge you to cut & paste and share as necessary:
Dear [Representative],
Today 50 people have been shot by an assault rifle in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Today we, as a nation, need to get Gun Control right. FINALLY.
It’s time to stop letting the NRA and the gun lobbyists rule Washington — and thus all of America.
It’s time to buy back the guns, like Australia did after their nation’s deadliest mass shooting.
This is a solution that WORKS. Here is an article from the Washington Post demonstrating its effectiveness: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/08/02/did-gun-control-work-in-australia/
The key takeaway from this article is: “The law banned semiautomatic and automatic rifles and shotguns. It also instituted a mandatory buy-back program for newly banned weapons.”
The other key? SPEED OF IMPLEMENTATION.
We cannot wait for another mass murder.
We cannot wait for another random act of violence, or killing spree.
We cannot wait to determine the cause.
We know the cause: massive numbers of guns, easily and legally obtainable.
Let’s get these guns off the streets, out of the hands of would-be killers, and away from our people.
The time to act is NOW.
Please let me know how you plan to use this information to remove guns from our nation’s streets, ASAP.
Your Constituent,
Laura Roberts
Need to find YOUR representatives?
Here’s how! Click these links to find…
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- Your Senators
- Your Representative
- Pre-written tweets you can send to both Senators and Representatives
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Hat tips to Hannah Hart for sharing Nicole Silverberg’s Medium article, which contains these links.
