What Can I Do?
“Every day, more than 90 Americans are killed by gun violence and hundreds more are injured.”
– Moms Demand Action
February 14, 2019 marked the first anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida where 17 people died – 14 of them children. Since that date nearly 1200 more children have died from guns. (The New York Times, February 13, 2019). Nearly 40, 000 people in the United States died from guns in 2018. (The New York Times, December 18, 2018)
If those numbers astound and sadden you, you may ask, What can I do?
Here are the links to five organizations that can help you answer that question:
- http://www.bradycampaign.org/
- https://everytown.org/
- https://foundation.gunresponsibility.org/
- https://giffords.org/
- https://momsdemandaction.org/
Here are seven pieces of legislation introduced by Earl Blumenauer who represents Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- H.R. 8 – Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019
- H.R. 33 – Gun Trafficking Prohibition Act
- H.R. 511 – Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act
- H.R. 569 – Zero Tolerance for Domestic Abusers Act of 2019
- H.R. 674 – Gun Violence Prevention Research Act of 2019
- H.R. 686 – Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act of 2019
- H.R. 869 – Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act
What can I do? Write and/or call your representative to urge passage of this legislation. Support the organizations seeking to reduce gun violence.
Finally, I invite you to watch, listen, and embrace the perspective in this song: “I’ll Fight” from the documentary RBG (about the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg). The music and lyrics of this Grammy and Academy Award nominee are by Diane Warren. It’s performed here by Jennifer Hudson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOqHWrCjuY4
What small step will you take?