CALL TO ACTION:  Donate $5 for 5 letters representing one more person demanding gun reform.

HERE’S WHY.  Tragedy will focus you.  We are focused now and we can’t let this moment go the way of Sandy Hook and Parkland and Las Vegas and Aurora and . . . literally too many to name.  It’s time for everyone impacted by gun violence to speak truth to power. 

HERE’S THE TRUTH.  A large and growing majority of Americans want stricter gun laws.  We deserve the right to feel safe in our streets, our malls, our cinemas, our schools, our places of worship, everywhere.  The impact of gun violence goes way beyond those who paid the highest price with their lives.  It includes every one of us who grieves, who lives in fear, whose children hide under desks during active shooter drills.  Everyone.  WE ALL COUNT.

WHERE’S THE POWER?  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell alone has the power to pass the legislation we all want.  He alone controls the Senate floor.  He alone has the power to act on gun control, but has chosen to ignore us.  He alone accepted $1.26M from the NRA.  Mitch is abetted by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), and President Donald Trump - all endorsed by the NRA and all representing communities devastated by gun violence.  It might sound crazy, but this really does boil down to one person with four cohorts who could, and should, pass stricter gun laws tomorrow.

HERE'S THE PLAN.  Speaking this truth to this power seems to be the hard part.  We have been here before and we have yet to break through.  I am asking for your help to send Mitch and his cohorts a tangible message.  I’ll send five physical letters, one to each power broker, for each person who donates here signifying a desire to end the pain, grief, fear, and trauma of gun violence.  That should add up to a mountain of letters that can’t be deleted or ignored with a click.  Activists know that a physical letter gets more attention than any number of emails, tweets, voicemails or online petitions.  In our digital age, we are detached - we scroll, we get angry, we “like”, we comment, but we aren’t being effective because we are not being heard.  Let’s be heard.  Let’s be counted.  WE ALL COUNT.

HERE’S THE DEAL.  Five dollars = Five letters = another person demanding bipartisan, overwhelmingly popular legislation to prevent gun violence.  Please give $5 for yourself.  And if you know someone who should be counted, please donate $5 on their behalf.  Any additional money collected will be donated to Moms Demand Action, Sandy Hook Promise, BAWN, and The Brady Campaign.

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HERE’S THE LETTER:

Senator Mitch McConnell
Suite 345
1885 Dixie Hwy
Fort Wright, KY 41011

Dear Senator McConnell,

One more!  This letter is physical proof that one more person impacted by gun violence is begging you to do something.  WE ALL COUNT.

You have the power.  You have no excuse for not representing the big and growing majority of Americans who demand common sense gun legislation now. “[T]he Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose[.]” J. Scalia, District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008).

We want:
1.  Universal background checks
2.  Assault weapons ban
3.  Red flag laws
4.  30 day waiting period
5.  No guns for domestic abusers

You have profited from your relationship with the NRA and gun industry for long enough.  Do your job.  Represent Americans united in their pain, fear and outrage caused by the uniquely American epidemic of gun violence.  Represent everyone:
everyone killed;
everyone wounded;
everyone grieving;
everyone threatened;
everyone surviving;
everyone who ran away to safety;
everyone who ran toward gunfire to help;
everyone tending to the wounded and traumatized;
everyone who bore witness;
everyone who narrowly missed being shot; 
everyone afraid they will be next;
everyone who practices active-shooter drills; 
everyone who looks for exits as they enter a mall, a school, a workplace, a cinema;
everyone who worries for their loved ones;
everyone.

WE ALL COUNT.

Sincerely,

Your name here

cc:     Sen. Cory Gardner
           Sen. Rob Portman
           Sen. John Cornyn
           President Donald Trump

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WHY ME?

I’ve been an activist for common sense gun laws for 20 years. After Columbine, I feared so deeply for our nation that I helped spearhead a chapter of the Million Mom March. Since then I joined and supported The Brady Campaign, Moms’ Demand Action, Everytown, March for our Lives, and other organizations all fighting for the same thing.  

In the hope of having a greater impact, I went to law school when my youngest kid went to 1st grade.  Between school runs, soccer games, and family meals, I focused on the unconstitutionality of legislation that shields the gun industry from liability in American court and published an article that has been cited in federal court.  I’ve made TV and radio appearances promoting common sense gun control legislation.  I have been advocating for sensible gun laws since before the latest victims were born.

I’m frustrated, and tired, but I’m not out of energy yet.  I have the benefit of many years in this arena, a law degree, and the help of my grown children who make me proud every day in their desire to work for a better world.  Together, I want to keep taking the next step that might restore a sense of peace and security in America that has been shattered by gun violence. I know that WE ALL COUNT and together we can be heard. 

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