Health Highlight: SPECIAL EDITION
Reply to: An Open Letter About Gun Violence (Health Highlight: Wed. 29, Mar.)
Health Highlights workflow is powered by Glasp.co, Neeva, and Perplexity.ai; and produced using iA Writer & Presenter.
🧠 Learn, ❤️ Like, 🤝 Share, and 📩 Subscribe!
“Health Highlight: Wed. 29, Mar. An open letter to my legislature about gun violence”
✍🏼 Carlos Franco • 🌐 Full Article • 📚 Glasp Highlights
THE BRIEF
At the end of last month, just after the mass shooting in Nashville, I wrote letters to my state legislature about gun violence. I then posted my letter on Substack, promising to follow up if any of my elected officials wrote me back. This morning I received my first response, which I will publish in its entirety.
Response from Representative Pramila Jayapal, WA. 7th District
Link to PDF version of Rep. Jayapal’s Letter
April 19, 2023
Dear Mr. Franco,
Thank you for contacting me to express your support for gun safety. Serving as your representative in Congress is a tremendous privilege. Each and every letter, email, postcard and call I receive makes a difference. I want you to know that I deeply value your input, and I am glad we agree on this important issue.
Like you, I am horrified by our country’s gun violence epidemic. Mass shootings have become interestingly frequent and deadly in this country. Twenty of the 30 most deadly mass shootings in modern history occurred in the last 20 years, including 11 of these deadly shootings in the last five years alone. Furthermore, the Giffords Law Center reports that nearly 40,000 Americans are killed by guns each year, an average of 109 deaths per day and in 2020, firearms became the leading cause of death of children in the U.S.
The recent mass shootings in Buffalo, Chicago, and Uvalde have sadly brought the human cost of gun violence to the forefront. Daily gun violence doesn’t have to be our reality. It is time to say no more to children murdered in schools, no more to Black people murdered at the grocery store, and no more doctors murdered in hospitals. As your Representative, I am committed to doing everything possible to pass legislation that saves lives and puts a stop to the uniquely American epidemic of gun violence.
That is why in the wake of these tragic mass shootings I was proud to join my colleagues in Congress in passing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. This landmark legislation was signed into law by President Biden on June 25, 2022 and represents the most significant gun safety legislation to be signed into law in nearly 30 years. The bill takes steps to close the “boyfriend loophole,” which left victims who weren’t married to or have children with their abusers vulnerable to gun violence, makes it more difficult for individuals under age 21 to purchase assault weapons, and encourages states to adopt ‘red flag laws’ that keep guns out of the hands of people who could be a danger to themselves or others.
This bill is an important step forward and it will save lives. However, we must be clear that our work is not over. As your representative, I am still fighting for universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, and much more. That is why I was proud to support the passage of H.R. 7910, the Protecting Our Kids Act, in the House. This package of reforms includes several key provisions to reduce gun violence including raising the age to purchase a semi-automatic weapon to 21, closing loopholes on ghost guns, creating federal standards for safe gun storage, regulating bump stocks, and prohibiting the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of a magazine that holds more than 15 rounds of ammunition. I also voted in favor of H.R. 2377, the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act. If passed by the Senate, this legislation would enhance red flag laws that remove firearms from people who are a threat to themselves and others by establishing procedures for federal courts to issue extreme risk protection orders. Finally, I am also a proud original cosponsor of H.R. 1808, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021, which would prohibit the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, and possession of semiautomatic assault weapons (SAW) and large capacity ammunition feeding devices (LCAFD). H.R. 1808 also allows state and local governments to use Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funds to compensate individuals who surrender a SAW or LCAFD under a buy-back program. Enacting this legislation would be an important step toward stopping the unchecked access to weapons of war in the United States.
We cannot keep waking up to news of more gun violence, more communities traumatized, more lives tragically lost. In honor of the millions across our country who have lost a loved on to gun violence, I will continue to fight for legislation that help to finally end this epidemic in our country.
Again, thank you for getting in touch with me about this important issue. If you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call us at 202–225–3106. Also, please sign up for my e-mail newsletter at jayapal.house.gov/contact/newsletter, join us on Facebook at facebook.com/RepJayapal, on Twitter at twitter.com/RepJayapal and on Instagram, at instagram.com/RepJayapal to be the first to know about my work in Washington’s 7th District and in DC.
Sincerely,
PRAMILA JAYAPAL
Member of Congress
🏷️ Tags: #civicengagement #politicalaction #vote #gunviolence#schoolshootings