Dear Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer,
Over the Thanksgiving holidays, we were heartened that President Biden said he was “going to try to get rid of assault weapons” during the upcoming lame-duck session. We completely support President Biden on this, because there’s no good reason for civilians to own weapons and high-capacity magazines designed for war. Banning assault weapons means we need a U.S. Senate vote on it as soon as possible, without delay.
In the United States, military-style semi-automatic assault weapons are used in the majority of mass shootings, and the majority of mass shooters obtain their deadly weapons legally due to our lax laws. Meanwhile, our overall epidemic of gun violence, of which high-profile mass shootings are only a small fraction, continues to rise. In 2020, the last year with complete data, gun deaths exceeded 45,000, representing a 14% increase from the year before, a 25% increase from five years earlier, and a 43% increase from a decade prior.
We demand true leadership from you in order to rein in our rising gun violence epidemic. We need a U.S. Senate vote NOW, which would get all U.S. Senators on the record for where they stand.
It’s urgent - the lives of our children and families are increasingly at risk in our increasingly violent, armed society.
Sincerely,