5th Anniversary Sandy Hook Letter to 115th Congress
This letter was hand-delivered to every Member of Congress after the 5th National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence on the 5th Anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy. December 6, 2017
Dear Members of 115th Congress:
December 14, 2017 is the five-year mark of the Sandy Hook tragedy when a gunman suffering from mental illness used an AR-15 with high capacity magazines to brutally murder 20 children and six educators.
Since that horrific day, over 500,000 Americans have been killed or injured by guns and there have been more than 1,500 mass shooting incidents in America. The number of gun deaths has increased to 38,000 in 2016 and three of the five deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history have occurred within the last year.
Gun violence is a public health emergency and you have been complicit. You have offered up thoughts and prayers but you have failed to take action to end gun violence in America. You must find the courage to reject the corporate gun lobby to protect all Americans from gun violence.
It’s time for you to #HonorWithAction. Therefore, a coalition of gun violence prevention organizations and allies representing over 11 million Americans implore you to pass these sensible gun laws that will help to steadily reduce gun violence in America.
- Background checks on sale of all guns
- Close the Charleston loophole or “delayed denial” where federally licensed dealers can sell guns if three business days pass without a verdict from the FBI
- Restrict and penalize firearm possession by or transfer to a person subject to a domestic violence protection order or a person (including dating partners) convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor
- Prohibit firearm sale or transfer to and receipt or possession by an individual who has: (1) been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor hate crime, or (2) received from any court an enhanced hate crime misdemeanor sentence.
- Fix the National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS)
- Mandatory waiting period for gun purchases
- Gun violence restraining order/extreme risk protection order to temporarily prohibit an individual deemed by a judge to pose a danger to self or others, from purchasing or possessing firearms or ammunition and allow law enforcement to remove any firearms or ammunition already in the individual’s possession
- Handgun permitting, licensing, training, and registration
- Ban bump-fire stocks and other dangerous accessories
- Ban future manufacture and sale of assault weapons, regulate existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act of 1934, and initiate a federal gun buyback program
- Limits on high capacity magazines
- Prohibit open carry
- Make gun trafficking a federal crime
- Repeal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to eliminate the corporate gun industry special protection from civil justice law that no other industry enjoys
- Repeal Dickey Amendment to adequately fund government research on gun violence
- Child access prevention/safe storage requirement
- Provide resources for people with mental illness
- Microstamped code on each bullet that links it to a specific gun
- “Smart guns” with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or biometric recognition (fingerprint) capability
- Limit gun purchases to one gun per month to reduce trafficking and straw purchases
- Require licensing for ammunition dealers
- Enhance accountability of federally licensed firearms dealers
- Digitize the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) gun records
You can do more to end gun violence in America to make our communities safer. If you fail to take action again then another 500,000 Americans will be killed or injured by guns and we will witness more and more horrific mass shooting incidents before the 10-year mark of the Sandy Hook tragedy.
Sincerely,
Newtown Action Alliance
Adorers of the Blood of Christ, US Region (Missouri)
Ainsworth United Church of Christ (Oregon)
All Saints Church (Vermont)
American Federation of Teachers
Anna's Place: A Franciscan Hospitality Center (Pennsylvania)
Arkansans Against Guns On Campus
Beth El Temple (Pennsylvania)
Calvary Church UMC (Massachusetts)
Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church (Colorado)
Catholic Church (Kansas)
Central Lutheran Church (Washington)
CHICAGOS CITIZENS FOR CHANGE
Coalition Against Gun Violence, a Santa Barbara County Coalition (California)
Colorado Faith Communities United to End Gun Violence
Community of Sant’Egidio (Washington D.C.)
Congregation Beth Am (California)
Congregation Beth Shalom (New Jersey)
Congregation Bonai Shalom (Colorado)
Congregation Kol Ami (California)
Congregation of St. Joseph (Illinois)
Congregation of St. Joseph (Michigan)
Congregation of St. Joseph Wichita Peace and Justice (Kansas)
Congregation Ohev Shalom (Wallingford, PA)
Congregation Shomrei Torah (New Jersey)
CREDO
CT Against Gun Violence
DefenDemocracy of CT
Dominican Sister of Peace (Ohio)
Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt (New York)
Dominican Sisters of Peace (Kansas)
Episcopal Peace Fellowship (Pennsylvania)
First Congregational Church in Chappaqua (New York)
First Congregational Church of Palo Alto (CA), UCC
First Congregational Church, UCC, of South Portland (Maine)
First Trinty Lutheran Church (Washingtion D.C.)
Gettysburg for Gun Sense (Pennsylvania)
GGW if Tucson (Arizona)
Grandmothers Against Gun Violence -Cape Cod (Massachusetts)
Greenwich Council Against Gun Violence (Connecticut)
Greenwood Baptist Church (New Jersey)
GunControlToday (North Carolina)
GunSenseVt
Holy Spirit Catholic Community (Ohio)
IHM Sisters (Michigan)
Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence
Indivisible
Indivisible Peninsula (Maine)
Iowans fo Gun Safety
It Takes Us: Stories of Gun Violence from Across America (New York)
Jewish Women International
Joint Action Committee
JPIC Cleveland
Justice and Peace Office (Indiana)
Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, Office, Oldenburg Franciscans (Indiana)
Lord of the Mountains Lutheran Church Gun Violence Task Force (Colorado)
MA Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence
Madonna University (Michigan)
March Forth (Maine)
Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence
Massachusetts Board of Rabbis
MOKS Grandparents Agasint Gun Violence (Missouri)
MomsRising
Monmouth Center for World Religions and Ethical Thought (New Jersey)
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
National Domestic Violence Hotline
National United Methodist Church-Gun Violence Prevention Team (D.C.)
Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility of United Church of Christ (Tennessee)
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
North Carolinians Against Gun Violence
Nova Intentional Eucharistic Community (Virginia)
Ohio Leadership Team Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
One Pulse for America
P&J Team of the Congregation of St. Joseph (Kansas)
Paving The Way Project (Illinois)
Pride Fund to End Gun Violence
Protect Minnesota
Rabbinical Assembly (New York)
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (Pennsylvania)
Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence
Saint Mark Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) Maryland
San Diego Gun Violence Prevention Coalition
Shaare Tefila Congregation (Maryland)
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Congregational Leadership (Kentucky)
Sisters of St Francis Justice, Peace and Integrity for Creation Committee (Pennsylvania)
Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt (New York)
Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia Justice Peace and Care of Creation Committee (Pennsylvania)
Social Action Committee of UUCLV (Unitarian Universalist Church of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania)
States United to Prevent Gun Violence
Stop Handgun Violence (Massachusetts)
Stop the Violence Coalition - Buffalo, New York
Survivors Empowered
Temple Avodat Shalom (New Jersey)
Temple Emunah (Massachusetts)
Temple Micah (Washington D.C.)
The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus
The Church of St. Luke in the Fields (New York)
The Connecticut Effect
The ENOUGH Campaign (Connecticut)
The Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew (Massachusetts)
The Temple (Georgia)
The Woodstove Alliance (Maine)
Union for Reform Judaism (New York)
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax (Virginia)
Unitarian Universalist Pennsylvania Legislative Advocacy Network (UUPLAN)
Vision Quilt (Oregon)
Washington Ceasefire
WAVE Educational Fund (Wisconsin)
We The People For Sensible Gun Laws (D.C.)
Women’s Voices Raised for Social Justice (Missouri)