Today’s Action: Prevent gun violence at the state level

It is in deep grief and dismay that our nation now faces another shooting, this time at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.

We wrote that sentence at the end of last week to run in today’s newsletter. Since then, two more horrific tragedies of mass murder have been perpetrated by individuals allowed easy access to deadly firearms they would have been denied in virtually every other developed nation on earth.

In Gilroy, the shooter killed two children and a young man in his 20’s, injuring an additional 12 with a gun purchased legally in Nevada (He then drove to California where it is illegal).

In El Paso, 20 were killed by an AK-47 style assault rifle wielded by a white supremacist echoing Donald Trump’s rhetoric as he murdered as many immigrants as he could.

In Dayton, Ohio, another white man opened fire on a crowded street. While details are still emerging about motive, we know that he was able to murder 9 innocents in 30 seconds thanks to a legally purchased mass murder machine.

And those are just the ones in the news. About 100 people are killed daily by guns in America, and it should go without saying that something must be done about it.

It is in outrage that we once again ask ourselves how many more victims we’ll mourn before we finally see necessary protections from gun violence in this country. And yet, Republicans in Congress have refused to even acknowledge the problems let alone support the most basic protections against our national gun violence epidemic.

But just as much work can be done at the state level to reduce needless tragedy in our nation. Gun laws greatly vary by state – and respectively, so do levels of gun violence. And as we learned this past week, loose gun laws in one state have caused great loss in another…which means state laws must be treated like national issues.

1. Visit the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence to view your state’s gun violence ranking – and recommended improvements to the law.
2. Call or email your state legislators and demand improvements in your state.

States have the power to prohibit domestic abusers from purchasing guns, require concealed weapon permits, enforce waiting periods and background checks, and much more.

Frankly, our state legislators don’t get nearly as many calls as Congress, but the work they can have just as big an effect – so let’s light a fire under them.

Visit the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence to view your state’s ranking in gun control, then call or email your state legislators with recommendations.