How Many More Children Need to Die to Protect Gun Ownership?
On May 24th, an eighteen-year-old gunman killed 19 young children and 2 teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. This tragedy is the third-deadliest American school shooting and the deadliest ever for Texas.
Once again, as a nation, we are in mourning for the lives of young ones who will never grow up to have the chance to learn to drive, go to prom, graduate high school and college, raise families, hold the careers of their dreams, and make the world a much better place than the one they were ripped away from.
However, this shooting isn’t the only one to make headlines in the last few weeks:
- A white supremacist gunman killed 10 Black shoppers at a Buffalo, New York grocery store ten days before Uvalde.
- 10 people were wounded in a mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina less than a week after the school shooting in Texas.
- Only two days ago, a shooter at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma killed 4 people – two doctors and two patients. The shooter bought both guns used in the shooting within 72 hours of the attack.
- Yesterday, 3 people were killed outside of a church in Ames, Iowa.
THIS VIOLENCE HAS TO END. Our thoughts and prayers only go so far if we do not take action.
We want to return to the days when we did not have to worry about our children’s safety as we dropped them off at school. When we are not wondering if they’ll be alive to go off to soccer practice or join us for a family dinner. After school, our children returning home to us should be an expectation, not a gamble.
One of our Illinois senators, Dick Durbin (D), proposed the Senate take up the House-passed Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 and the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021.
We highly encourage all of you to contact your respective U.S. Senate representation and demand the passage of these acts.
The time to do better for our children and our neighbors is now. LET’S DO BETTER.