
Sandy Hook School Shooting Massacre
(Image by The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow, Channel: TakeActionNewsTV) Details DMCA
On December 14, 2012, 20 innocent children and six heroic teachers and staff
members were murdered in their classrooms at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
That's 20 children who didn't have birthday parties this year...20 children who
didn't get to put a tooth out for the tooth fairy...20 children who won't be
singing in a holiday pageant this year.
The number of victims is far more
than 20. I meet mamas and daddies, sisters and grandmas who have lost children
and grandchildren to gun violence -- communities of people whose days will
forever be marked by loss. I meet them, and I promise we will not
forget.
After the massacre at Sandy Hook, it finally felt like we had
reached a moment that we could agree to put aside our differences and move
toward better gun safety.
The bipartisan Manchin-Toomey bill proposed in
the wake of Sandy Hook would have closed the background check loophole for gun
shows and Internet sales. It seemed like the very least we could do, really. I
had only been in office a few months, but I was optimistic that we had the votes
to make it happen.
I stood on the floor of the United States Senate, stunned and appalled. I thought: What has happened to this country? What has happened to this democracy that one interest group can put the entire country at risk? Where is our political courage?
Some states have stepped in, taking action to pass stronger gun legislation. I'm proud that Massachusetts has some of the toughest laws in the country. But strong gun laws in Massachusetts won't stop someone from going to a gun show in New Hampshire or Maine, states that don't require a permit or license to buy guns, and bringing those guns across the border. Congress must act.
Day after day, month after month, the shootings keep happening. Mass shootings, drive-by shootings, random shootings. Children shot at school. Women targeted at a Planned Parenthood clinic. Four people shot outside a bar next to Fenway on Thanksgiving.
And Congress still does nothing.
Eleven days ago, the Senate voted on that Manchin-Toomey background check bill once again. The Senate had another chance to learn from its past mistakes, to show its political courage, to take one small step to keep our children and communities safe -- and Manchin-Toomey received fewer votes than it did in 2013. In fact, the Senate even defeated an amendment that would have stopped people on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.
We cannot stand by while the NRA sets the agenda in Washington. So I'd like to ask you to do three things:
- Call your senators and your member of Congress. The NRA is
loud in Washington -- and we need to be louder. It only takes a minute: A staff
assistant will answer the phone. Tell him/her your name, where you're from, and
that you support common-sense gun reform. (If you don't want to make a call, you
can also go to his/her websites and fill out the contact forms.) People in
Congress keep track of these calls, so please pick up the phone. (Click
here to look up your senators' phone numbers and here
to look up your representative's number.)
- Talk to your friends and family -- especially ones who may not be on
this email list. The majority of Americans -- even your Republican
relatives and even people who own guns -- support background checks. Ask them to
call or write their representatives, too. This is how we magnify our voices.
- Check to see if your representatives will have any events back home during the holiday break. If there's something going on -- anything -- please show up and remind them that they work for people like you, not the NRA. Ask them, face-to-face, for sensible gun safety laws.
Change is up to us. We need to put some energy into this. We must show that
we are as committed to gun safety as the NRA is committed to putting guns in the
hands of people who endanger all of us.
Today is the three-year
anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School -- an anniversary
that will be seared into my brain for as long as I live. It isn't enough to
remember -- we need to act.
A new billboard from Stop Handgun Violence
is also going up in Boston today. It's a constant reminder that gun violence in
our communities is not inevitable. We can change the laws if we just work hard
enough.
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