Gun owners vs. the NRA

Occupy Democrats

It doesn't make any sense...

Occupy Democrats

 

All over the country, responsible gun owners are standing up to the NRA and supporting the President's actions to expand background checks to all gun purchases.

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After the horrific shootings in San Bernardino, many Republicans in Congress offered their customary “thoughts and prayers” for the victims and their families.

And, as is also customary, they continued to do nothing to actually reduce gun violence. In fact, just a day after the shootings, Senate Republicans voted to block four gun control bills that would actually begin to address the unprecedented wave of shootings that’s gripped our country.

It’s time for Congress to consider a meaningful package of gun control reforms, including an assault weapons ban and universal background checks. But breaking the NRA’s chokehold on Congress will require massive amounts of grassroots pressure demanding a real change.

Tell Republicans in Congress: “Thoughts and prayers” are not enough. We need real gun control. Click here to sign the petition.

Pro-NRA members of Congress respond to tragedies while they’re in the news, but never take action to prevent them from happening again. Instead, they offer up either fleeting sentiments or xenophobic and racist policies, as they did in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.

It’s outrageous that Republicans are so eager to fearmonger and race bait on behalf of our “safety” but refuse to do anything to combat the epidemic of gun violence that kills more than 33,000 Americans every year. If Republicans actually want to make us safer, they must do everything they can to pass a comprehensive package of gun control reforms, including a bill to close the NRA-backed terror gap which has allowed more than 2,000 people on the terror watch list to purchase guns since 2004.1

Policies like blocking refugees and discriminating against refugees based on their religion are especially offensive when there is legislation that Congress could pass right now to actually reduce gun violence. The Senate could:

• Close the terror gap by allowing the Department of Justice to block guns sales to anyone on the terror watch list. Between 2004 and 2014, more than 2,000 people on the list purchased guns in the U.S.
• Close the loophole that allows people to buy guns without undergoing background checks through private sales, at gun shows and online. An estimated 40% of all firearms transferred in the U.S. are transferred by unlicensed individuals not required to conduct background checks on buyers.2
• Ban convicted domestic abusers and stalkers from buying guns. Abused women are five times more likely to be killed by their abuser if that individual has access to a firearm.3
• Prohibit the manufacture of assault weapons and "large capacity" magazines for civilian use.

In 2014 alone, the gun lobby spent over $30 million on political advertising and lobbying to influence legislators in Congress and state capitals across the country. If Republicans really want to protect Americans, they need to break their blind allegiance to the NRA and pass gun control legislation. But they’ll never act unless we force them. Can you add your voice today?

Tell Republicans in Congress: It’s time to pass real gun control legislation..

Thank you for your activism.

1. “Closing the Terror Gap in Gun Background Checks,” Everytown for Gun Safety, July 21, 2015.
2. “Universal Background Checks & the “Private” Sale Loophole Policy Summary ,” Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, September 10, 2015.
3. ”Gabby Giffords, National Domestic Violence Prevention Leaders Applaud New House Legislation to Keep Guns out of the Hands of Abusers,” Americans for Responsible Solutions, July 22, 2015.

Earlier today, I stood at President Obama's side as he announced new measures to reduce gun violence in America. As a retired Army officer from Georgia, a gun owner, and a former NRA member, I'm so proud to have fought for the commonsense action the president took today.

With MoveOn's help, I joined together with other gun owners to take on the NRA directly in Washington—since only a tiny minority of gun owners actually belong to the NRA, and most don't even agree with the organization on public policy.1

And our strategy is working: Today's announcement was the most far-reaching action the president has ever taken to prevent gun violence and save lives.

Gun owners have never come together to challenge the NRA's credibility quite like this. Now we need your help to get the word out to the millions more who would join us if they knew about our effort.

This could be the beginning of the end of the NRA—but we need the resources to continue and expand our project.

Gun violence in America reached epidemic levels in 2015 with 330 mass shootings—nearly one shooting for every day of the year.2

As his first major action of 2016, President Obama announced today that all high-volume gun sellers at gun shows and on the Internet must conduct background checks.3 Countless numbers of guns have been sold online and at gun shows without background checks. Each year, nearly a quarter of a million gun sales originate from just Armslist.com alone—a single website.4

The president also announced other changes to improve enforcement of existing gun laws and strengthen the background check system, which is great news, because background checks are the single most effective way to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and save lives.5

NRA-backed Republicans in Congress are furious. Already, there are threats of lawsuits.6 And even before the president announced his plans, Republicans had introduced a bill to block the action—and fast-tracked it on the Senate calendar.7

Gun owners speaking out is a breakthrough, winning strategy—but we need your help to defeat the NRA.

Thanks for your help.

–David T.

P.S. In November, I traveled to Washington, D.C., with MoveOn staff and more than a dozen other gun owners—about half of whom are current or former NRA members. We met with the White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett and urged the president to strengthen background checks, without waiting for Congress. While we took action in Washington, MoveOn members across the country flooded Congress with petitions and phone calls and took to social media.

When the White House first broke the news last month that President Obama would act today, Ms. Jarrett even mentioned our meeting! She said,

Americans are mobilizing. Two weeks ago I met at the White House with a group of gun owners who believe in the need for change. Many were former NRA members who made clear to me that the NRA no longer represents them, and they assured me that many more gun owners were feeling the same.8

To defend the president’s actions and challenge the NRA, our plans are to:

• Grow this effort from 32,000 to 50,000 gun owners speaking out; 
• Launch a powerful social media campaign with gun owners challenging the NRA; 
• Create a hard-hitting ad campaign exposing the NRA for not representing the vast majority of gun owners; and
• Organize a major media event with gun owners at the NRA's upcoming convention.

Gun owners like me are ready to speak out—and powerfully so. 

Sources:

1. "Most gun owners don't belong to the NRA—and they don't agree with it either," The Washington Post, October 15, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/200?t=17&akid=160849.3735812.d50tql

2. "Gun Violence Archive 2015," Gun Violence Archive, January 5, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/528?t=19&akid=160849.3735812.d50tql

3. "Obama to Expand Gun Background Checks and Tighten Enforcement," The New York Times, January 4, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/517?t=21&akid=160849.3735812.d50tql

4. "Beyond Gridlock: How White House Action on Gun Violence Can Save Lives," Everytown for Gun Safety, October 5, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/529?t=23&akid=160849.3735812.d50tql

5. "Background Checks Prevent Gun Violence and Save Lives," Everytown for Gun Safety, May 8, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/530?t=25&akid=160849.3735812.d50tql

6. "Obama's gun control options each have legal pitfalls," Reuters, January 3, 2016 http://act.moveon.org/go/534?t=27&akid=160849.3735812.d50tql

7. "Paul pushes new bill to thwart Obama action on gun control," The Hill, December 21, 2015 http://act.moveon.org/go/532?t=29&akid=160849.3735812.d50tql

8. "Obama looks to expand background checks for guns with executive action," The Guardian, December 10, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/203?t=31&akid=160849.3735812.d50tql