What's On Our Mind 10-8-2021

What's on Our Mind...
 
The Senate’s inability to pass meaningful gun safety legislation is costing lives. Every day, over 100 people are shot and killed in America and hundreds more are injured. Despite the surge in gun violence, the NRA has doubled down on its extremism and dangerous rhetoric. 
 
Now House-passed bills aimed at curbing gun violence and promoting safety for our children, families, and neighbors, languish in the Senate while our communities continue to be at risk.
 
Currently, the Senate needs 60 votes (referred to as a filibuster) to pass most legislation. With only 50 Democratic Senators, the GOP would need to support many of these important bills. The lack of bipartisanship leads to gridlock.
 
More than 50 million children this fall finally returned to the classroom. While their studies resume, so does the growing fear of gun violence in the school.
 
So far — and we are only in October — we have seen the most number of people shot during this back-to-school period since 2013, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.
 
JAC-supported candidates Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Lucy McBath (D-GA) introduced the School Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act this week. The Act will allow the public and policy makers to gain a complete and accurate picture of gun violence in and around school campuses. By providing accurate data, public officials can build effective strategies to prevent bloodshed at our places of learning.
 
Two days after the bill’s introduction, an 18-year-old student in Arlington, Texas shot and injured three people after an altercation with another classmate escalated. The time for passage and enactment of meaning full legislation addressing the epidemic of gun violence is NOW.
 
Has your Representative sponsored this bill? Call 202-224-3121 and ask them to do so NOW.
 
There’s no excuse for this senseless gun violence, especially when legislative solutions are sitting before the Senate. We cannot allow tens of thousands of Americans to be killed because of the Senate’s inability to pass meaningful laws to prevent gun violence. The House is doing their job. It’s time the Senate did the same.

What can we do? We need to elect more Senators — like Val Demings (D-FL) — who are committed to ending the soaring gun violence in our country. We also need to find ways to make the Senate work more efficiently and effectively for the American people, such as ending or modifying the filibuster, which is preventing crucial legislation from getting stuck by political obstructionism.
 
Support JAC candidates who care about you and your children's' safety.