ISSUES BEHIND THE GUN ARGUMENTS
The intensity of the gun debate highlights vital issues.
QUICK READ: Even before Buffalo and Uvalde, 240 mass shootings were recorded in America so far this year. But those two broke our hearts. So gun reform is back on the agenda, although it’s facing a united and nearly undefeatable Republican opposition. The next few weeks will see news about the NRA’s grip on our democracy. And it may, finally, cast a light on the teen mental health crisis.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
BACKGROUND
This weekend, more than a dozen lives were lost to mass shootings, intensifying the debate over gun control and highlights fundamental issues including:
What is the role of science in this new public health emergency? The science is “abundantly clear,” wrote the editors of Scientific American this week: “(G)uns are a public health crisis, just like COVID, and in this, we are failing our children, over and over again.” More guns do not stop crime. More children die by gunfire every year than on-duty police officers and active military members.
Who directs gun policy? Seventy percent of Americans want stronger gun controls, but Republicans control gun policy. Last week, Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-NY – in fact, Buffalo) announced that he’d support a ban on AR-15s. Within days, his support dried up, and he suddenly announced he wouldn’t run for reelection.” NRA 1, Democracy 0.
Can teen shooters be stopped? The teenagers responsible for the shootings in Buffalo and Texas both demonstrated violent behavior beforehand. It’s impossible to know if early intervention could have avoided the massacres. But it's certain that the US is experiencing a youth mental health crisis that leaves some students vacillating between suicide and homicide.
America’s future is our children. We shape their futures through what we do today. Protect the future.
ACTION One: Call the Senate.
Script for Oregon Senators
SEN. MERKLEY: Portland office: 503-326-3386 | D.C. office: 202-224-3753
My name is [--] and I'm a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please ban AR-15s. And body armor. Then invest further in our children’s future by supporting initiatives to help youth who are having mental health crises.
SEN. WYDEN:
Portland office: 503-326-7525 | D.C. office: 202-224-5244
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please ban AR-15s. And body armor. Then invest further in our children’s future by supporting initiatives to help youth who are having mental health crises.
Script for Republican Senators
D.C switchboard: 202-224-3121
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], [state], [zip code].
Please ban AR-15s. These weapons are being used to slaughter our children. Further, I expect you to invest in our children’s future by supporting initiatives to help youth who are having mental health crises.
ACTION TWO: Call the House.
Script for Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Oregon office: 503-469-6010 | DC office: 202-225-0855
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please ban AR-15s. And body armor. Then invest further in our children’s future by supporting initiatives to help youth who are having mental health crises.
Script for Cliff Bentz (OR-02)
Medford office: 541-776-4646 | DC office: 202-225-6730
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please ban AR-15s. These weapons are being used to slaughter our children. Further, I expect you to invest in our children’s future by supporting initiatives to help youth who are having mental health crises.
Script for Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Oregon office: 503-231-2300 | DC office: 202-225-4811
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please ban AR-15s. And body armor. Then invest further in our children’s future by supporting initiatives to help youth who are having mental health crises.
Script for Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
Eugene office: 541-465-6732 | DC office: 202-225-6416
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please ban AR-15s. And body armor. Then invest further in our children’s future by supporting initiatives to help youth who are having mental health crises.
Script for Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Salem office: 503-588-9100 | DC office: 202-225-5711
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please ban AR-15s. And body armor. Then invest further in our children’s future by supporting initiatives to help youth who are having mental health crises.
ACTION 3: GOOD TROUBLE
GOOD TROUBLE: Below are opportunities to fight for our democracy. As John Lewis said, go make some “good trouble.”
THURSDAY — January 6 committee's first televised hearing.
TUESDAY 11:30am-12:30pm LETTER WRITING PARTY - INDIVISIBLE OREGON:
https://www.mobilize.us/swingleft/event/442887/Fridays at 4 - Letter and Postcard Writing — Indivisible Oregon.
Learn about persuasive language and communication research at the Zoom ASO Movement Briefings every second Wednesday.
Join the campaign to hold the House and Senate at GiveNoGround.org
Work to protect democracy in the House by replacing retiring US Representative Peter DeFazio with another Democrat, replacing Democrat Kurt Schrader, the “Manchin of the House,” with a progressive, and electing a Democrat in Oregon’s new Congressional District 6.
Demand that your primary news source stop creating false equivalencies and just report the truth.
Check out the Poor People's Campaign Readies 'Massive, Nonviolent' Effort to Save Democracy
Outside of Portland? Check out COIN Oregon.
Rally inconsisent Democratic voters to vote in 2022 with Progressive Turnout Project | Feb, 2022 | Medium
FURTHER READING:
The Science Is Clear: Gun Control Saves Lives - Scientific American
We’ve Known How To Prevent A School Shooting for More Than 20 Years | FiveThirtyEight
‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens - The New York Times
Solutions | Everytown | Everytown
Mass Shootings Are Fraction of Child Gun Deaths in the U.S. | Time
