CALL TO ACTION: FOR THE SAKE OF OUR CHILDREN

OUR CALL TO ACTION!

Support comprehensive and consistent federal gun legislation, by urging legislators to:
   Restore public access to crime gun trace data
   Require criminal background checks for all guns sold in the U.S.
   Limit how many guns someone can buy in one transaction
    Renew assault weapons ban
    Outlaw high-capacity magazines
    Support efforts to close the private sale loophole
    Support groups that advocate safety and call for an end to gun violence
    Oppose “Stand Your Ground” laws and “Concealed Carry” laws.
    Invite political leaders, mental health experts, and educators to your community to share views and develop action plans to stop gun violence.
    Learn about the daily reality of urban gun violence from such organizations as are listed below.
    Organize adult education programs to learn more about gun violence and what you can do.
    Organize programs for parents, youth, and children to address issues of violence that touch all of us and the choices we can make in our own lives to help create a more nonviolent society.

Here are nine things you can do right now to help stop gun violence:
1. Contact your elected representatives and demand that they support and advocate for effective gun violence prevention legislation. Call your U.S. Senators and Representative via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and tell them that you SUPPORT a federal ban on assault weapons, high-capacity ammunition magazines, and “bump fire” stocks and similar devices,  and that you OPPOSE legislation that would deregulate firearm silencers and allow federally mandated concealed carry.

2. Attend or support a MARCH FOR OUR LIVES Event.

3. Engage your friends to take a stand against gun violence. Create your very own online fundraiser in just 10 minutes, using crowdfunding sites online.

4. Join a local gun violence prevention organization. Visit http://ceasefireusa.org/, the national umbrella organization for state gun violence prevention organizations to find a group here in our state. Karyl also has local resources she can share.

5. Write a letter to the editor in your local paper in support of gun violence prevention. Or use social media to support the efforts to stop gun violence.

6. Host an evening of information and action to educate your children,  friends, and community about gun violence while helping support the Violence Policy Center or other group working towards an end for gun violence. For a free and easy how-to guide, go to www.vpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Evening-of-Info-Action-10-28-16.pdf

7. ADOPT/JOIN/SUPPORT/INFORM YOURSELF about a group actively working towards any of these ends, by supporting them with your time, talents, and treasures. Make a tax deductible contribution to an organization. The following are a few resources which have more information and action suggestions concerning gun violence:

https://momsdemandaction.org/
Since 2012, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has pushed back against the gun lobby and fought for common-sense laws and policies to make our country safer.

https://www.operationlipstick.org/
LIPSTICK is women helping women keep guns out of the wrong hands. We are disrupting gun trafficking pipelines every day. EMPOWERS WOMEN TO SAY NO TO MEN WHO ASK THEM TO PURCHASE GUNS ON THEIR BEHALF.

http://www.childrensdefense.org/campaigns/protect-children-not-guns/
Join us in our campaign to stand up, speak out, and organize with urgency and persistence until the President, members of Congress, governors, and state legislators protect children instead of guns. Every child’s life is sacred, and it is long past time that we pass common-sense gun safety regulations to protect all our children. LOTS OF CAMPAIGNS TO HELP CHILDREN.

https://www.everytown.org
Everytown is a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities. Gun violence touches every town in America. For too long, change has been thwarted by the Washington gun lobby and by leaders who refuse to take common-sense steps that will save lives.

http://www.bradycampaign.org/
Three impact-driven, broadly engaging campaigns: (1) a policy focus to "Finish the Job" so that life-saving Brady background checks are applied to all gun sales; (2) to "Stop 'Bad Apple' Gun Dealers" – the 5 percent of gun dealers that supply 90 percent of all crime guns; and (3) to lead a new national conversation and change social norms around the real dangers of guns in the home, to prevent the homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings that happen every day as a result.

http://faithsunited.org/
A diverse coalition of denominations and faith-based organizations united by the call of our faiths to confront America’s gun violence epidemic and to rally support for policies that reduce death and injury from gunfire.

http://www.vpc.org/
Violence Policy Center informs the public about the impact of gun violence on their daily lives, exposes the profit-driven marketing and lobbying activities of the firearms industry and gun lobby, offers unique technical expertise to policymakers, organizations, and advocates on the federal, state, and local levels, and works for policy changes that save lives.

https://giffords.org/
The nation’s leading policy organization dedicated to researching, writing, enacting, and defending proven laws and programs, is on a mission to save lives from gun violence by shifting culture, changing policies, and challenging injustice.


8. Print extra copies of this information/call to action sheet and share them with your friends, neighbors, families, coworkers.
   
9. Find out how we as a community of concerned citizens can work with other faith communities in your local community, and with your local school to further this work.