For decades, California has underfunded mental health services. As a result, the criminal justice system often serves as the state’s default mental health provider, with jails and prisons filled with people suffering from mental illness. In addition, an estimated 10% of law enforcement agencies’ budgets – and 20% of staff time – are spent responding to individuals with mental illness. A direct consequence of our overreliance on law enforcement responses to mental health crises is that almost a quarter of all people killed in police-involved shootings since 2015 had a known mental illness, with black men dying at a disproportionate rate. Between when Derek Chauvin’s trial started and his conviction for the murder of George Floyd, 64 people died at the hands of police. More than a dozen of them had a known mental illness or were in the throes of a mental health crisis. In 2019, Miles Hall, a 23-year-old black man living in Walnut Creek, was in the midst of a schizophrenic mental health crisis when his family called 911 for help. Despite being familiar with Miles’ condition, the officers resorted to lethal force within a minute of their arrival. Law enforcement officers are not mental health experts and should not be expected to serve this role. A better system for Miles and all Californians is possible – one that leads with treatment, not law enforcement. Last year, the federal government established “988” as the new 3-digit alternative to 911 for mental health crises. Callers to 988 will be connected with around-the-clock support, including mobile crisis teams that can respond to the scene with trained mental health professionals and peers rather than law enforcement. If California does not act now, the state will lose critical federal support and funding. Please urge California lawmakers to pass, and Governor Gavin Newsom to sign, Assembly Bill 988 (Bauer-Kahan) – also known as the Miles Hall Lifeline Act – to implement the 988 system in California and take concrete steps to reduce shootings where mental health is involved. AB 988 will ensure that we respond to a health crisis with a health response.

They say the definition of insanity is repeating the same mistake and expecting a different result. Mass shootings should not be part of the nightly news like the weather. There have been way too many including several in the past two months alone. We aren’t safe in our grocery stores, salons, movie theaters, at concerts, at work, in our places of worship, or even in our schools. So many times the targets have been ethnic groups, people of color, religious minorities, lgbtqia, woman, and children. We teachers should not have to worry about our students or ourselves being shot during school. People should be able to worship in safety. This isn’t fake news, these events happened, hundreds of people have died. I have family that attend Synagogue in Pittsburgh PA near to where the tragedy at the Tree of Life Synagogue took place. Now, I worry they could be attacked while going to service. I’ve visited Emanuel A.M.E. in Charleston South Carolina, and to the memorial at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando Florida. These places are now forever marred by tragedy. Survivors and families are forever traumatized and altered. It is simply too easy to purchase firearms. We owe it to the survivors and the families of the slain. Honor their deaths and please tell Congress to pass these bills to make us all safer.

Atlanta. Boulder. Indianapolis. These have been just the high-profile mass shootings that grabbed national headlines over the last few weeks. In fact, the United States has averaged more than one mass shooting a day so far in 2021. And as the pandemic unfolded in 2020, gun violence rose dramatically with over 19,000 people killed in shootings and firearm-related incidents. Tragically, who is harmed by gun violence has often been determined by race, ethnicity, or gender. People of color -- and everyone -- deserve to be safe. While we mourn the recent shootings, we must also fight the explosive combination of guns, racism, misogyny, and white supremacy to reduce the likelihood of such tragedies recurring. The U.S. House has passed gun legislation to tighten background checks on gun sales, and now it’s up to the U.S. Senate to turn it into law. Tell the U.S. Senate to act against gun violence now and pass universal background checks.

For 8 years these bills have been "held for further study" - bills that have the support of the large majority of RI residents, as well as the backing of public health and safety experts, school principals, committees, and superintendents, and community and advocacy groups. It is time for votes for gun safety reform - please sign now!

As we continue to grapple with a pandemic, we must not forget our ongoing gun violence epidemic — and we must treat it like the national security priority it is. With so many factors fueling it, we know it’s not going to be solved overnight. BUT Congress could act NOW to mitigate the extent of mass shooting injuries and deaths. One place to start is by finally passing a federal ban on all assault weapons. With your help, we can make sure Congress hears us loud and clear when we say weapons of war do not belong in our streets. Together, we can push Congress to do their job — that means representing AND and protecting us with legislation that will ban assault weapons from our streets.

The Atlanta mass shooting that resulted in the death of eight people -- six of whom were Asian American women -- again proves that Americans can no longer wait for action against gun violence and hate. In 2020 alone, as though the pandemic weren't already too much to bear, gun violence rose dramatically with over 19,000 people killed in shootings and firearm-related incidents. Tragically, who is harmed by gun violence has long been determined by race, ethnicity, or gender. Asian American women -- and everyone -- deserve to feel safe. While we mourn the Atlanta shootings, we must also fight the explosive combination of guns, racism, and misogyny to reduce the likelihood of such tragedies ever happening again. The U.S. House recently passed gun legislation to tighten up background checks on gun sales, and now it’s up to the U.S. Senate to turn it into law. Tell the U.S. Senate to act against gun violence now and pass universal background checks.

The process to hire a new Chief of Police for Prince George’s County must be fully transparent. As PG County residents we must be included in the hiring process in ways that go beyond a mere community survey. The role of the police chief is far too great and needs to be accountable to the members of the community with all police matters.

I am a career high school teacher, my life's work has been the education, support, and nurturing of our oldest children during one of the most challenging transitional periods of life. In addition to all the stresses of adolescence, our young people must routinely prepare to have their learning spaces invaded by armed domestic terrorists that can slaughter them in cold blood. Because of shamefully lax gun regulations in the US, school shootings happen with damnable regularity subjecting families to the murder of their precious children and the surviving students to the trauma of witnessing their friends gunned down. It is bad enough that the members of US Congress have allowed this social crisis to get to the point that it has but now, in your ranks is a representative that publicly harassed a survivor of the Parkland School shooting just weeks after he witnessed the murder of his friends. As if that was not bad enough, that representative, Marjorie Taylor Greene sits on the House Education Committee. This is an affront to all teachers, parents, and our precious children. Representative Marjorie Taylor Green MUST be removed from the House Education Committee immediately

No single reform will keep our communities safe gun violence - it is the interconnection of common-sense laws that provides the best protection against gun violence.

For more than four years, Mike Lee has not only lacked the courage and the moral compass to denounce con man Trump’s reprehensible behavior, he’s aided and abetted Trump’s deception and domestic abuse of the American public by standing by instead of standing up.

The assault on January 6th, 2021 to our Nation's congress and our Capitol Building was an aberration, and a direct threat to our democracy. This violent attack was instigated by Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump Jr.. The rioters attempted to destroy the institutions that make us the strongest democracy in the world. These rioters displayed Neo-nazi, racist, and fascist symbols. As more footage of the incident is brought to light, we all are witnessing the violent nature of the groups that forced themselves into The People's House. A police officer was murdered and four other people died in this violent event. It is one of the darkest days in the history of our country. We must make sure that his name is not glorified in any way, because if we do not act we will have normalized the behavior Mr. Trump and his rioting mob of followers displayed. We Chicagoans and Americans ask you to do what is in your power to remove the sign that is now a stain to a city we are proud to call home. Thank you.

Unless this is done, laws become a lie and the democracy is well and truly dead. Unless this is done, you create a schism between power and the powerless that is too deep to heal; our brothers and sisters of color, our women, will never trust, will never stop fighting to create equality, and there will never be peace. Ever. Unless this is done, you confirm the ability of another dictator to take the White House, and you allow the Senators who care only for their own skins to keep perpetuating the violence and lack of morality to continue. And you simply kill our country.