I am writing to ask what actions you have taken to reduce gun violence and deploy sensible regulations of firearms. I am a voter living in your district, and you represent me in the House of Representatives. You have one representative in the US House. Your name here Write your representative in Congress Also, please tell me what you have done so far and what you plan to do in the immediate future. I am writing you to urge you to take action to address this problem. We have made cars and toasters safer with sensible regulation, but have not done so with firearms. Yet Congress has done little to address this problem. I am a voter living in your state, and you represent me in the US Senate.įirearms have become one of the most significant sources of injury and death in the United States. Find out who they are and get their contact details here. Write your own note, but here are a few suggestions.
But an email is good too, and if that is all you have time for, please do it.
I’m told (see this) that a written letter delivered by the US Post Office has a significantly larger impact when it arrives on the desk of your Congressperson than an email (or tweet or a signature on a petition), so do please spend the stamp and do that if you can. The easy step you can take, and likely the most effective, is to send a note right now to your representative in Congress. You can find information about that here. Another idea is to check your investments (like your 401k) to see if you are supporting the gun industry. I understand and respect the fact that most of you are not going to do this, but some of you may be inclined to do so, and I thank you for that. After that, don’t let the gun supporters off easy when they pull out their arguments. You can learn more about the gun problem, by reading this post to the end, and reading other material. Here, I’m asking you to take one of them, the one that requires the least effort and would likely have the largest impact. But in order for that to happen, this has to happen:ġ) The specious arguments against gun regulation have to be called out for what they are, and ultimately, ignored.Ģ) Citizen pressure on our elected representatives has to be increased significantly.ģ) Organized efforts against the gun industry and the gun lobby have to be supported.
Other countries have addressed their gun violence problem effectively. Special interest groups such as the National Rifle Association, through pressure and campaign financing, control much of the Congress. We have another problem as well, one that is paralleled in many other areas of policy. I lay out some of the numbers below, and address some of the arguments that regulation of guns should be absent or minimal. But really, that is a small part of the problem, numerically. We are frequently reminded of this by the regular occurrence of mass killings such as the recent event in Oregon. In the US, we have an outdated Constitutional amendment that has been interpreted by many, including the courts, in a way that hampers effective legislation to address what is clearly a major problem with the proliferation and use of firearms in inappropriate ways. This message is primarily for those living in the United States.
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