Darrel had just started High School when his girlfriend broke-up with him. At home, and alone with his anguish, he used a shotgun to take his own life. He was 14. Each year, hundreds of children and teens die in Washington as a result of access to guns and other gun safety issues. They are not just victims of their own impulses; they are also victims of negligence by otherwise intellegent gun owners. Teaching proper safety precautions and requiring satey exams and insurance for gun owners will greatly reduce the incidence of tragedies like Darrel's.

Yesterday in Austin, TX (October 16, 2013), a 17-year-old student and father of a 1-year-old baby took a gun to school and shot himself at lunchtime in the school courtyard. I am reminded of my own personal gun tragedies every time I hear of killings with guns. The pain and guilt of losing a loved one tragically does not go away. I was 11 when my brother took his life with a family rifle. My severely depressed mother purchased a gun two years later and killed herself. Please help me change gun laws in the U.S.

GUN VIOLENCE IS A CRIME ISSUE,A SOCIAL PROBLEM, A HUMAN RIGHTS PROBLEM AND A PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM. WE NEED SAFER STREETS FOR OUR CHILDREN. MY BROTHER CHARLES TRICE WAS MURDERED 2/25/12 BY SOMEONE WITH AN ILLEGAL GUN IN A ROBBERY ATTEMPT. I AM ASSOCIATED WITH MANY OTHERS WHO HAS LOST LOVED ONES DUE TO VIOLENCE, IT HAS TO STOP SOON.

I am a retired pediatrician. I am worried about, and appalled by how many children have been killed and maimed (mentally and physically) by firearms. We have spent and continue to spend untold billions of dollars and other resources protecting ourselves from foreign invaders (Think 9/11) But we have been cowards in the face of the gun lobby, even though we ourselves kill ten times more of our own people yearly,with our own guns than one invader did once.. We are brave enough to defend ourselves against those who threaten us from the outside. Why have we been cowed by the gun lobby? Let's change that. Let's find the courage to stand up to the NRA and their ilk. Let's pass sensible gun laws to protect ourselves from ourselves, because, actually, people do kill people.

Domestic violence is an epidemic that affects women, children and families in communities across our nation. Firearms play a special role in increasing lethality rates in domestic violence incidents. More than half of women murdered with guns in the United States are killed by intimate partners; in 2010 alone, more female homicides were committed with firearms than with any other weapon. Additionally, the mere presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide for women by 500 percent. Yet domestic violence offenders who are federally prohibited from owning or accessing firearms routinely avoid the background check system by purchasing weapons through unlicensed private sellers at gun shows and online. This can have a devastating and lethal effect on victims of domestic abuse and Congress must directly address this issue. By requiring a background check for every gun sale, we can reduce violence against women and save innocent lives. In states that require universal background checks for every handgun sale, 38 percent fewer women are shot to death by intimate partners.

GUNS ARE MADE FOR ONE THING - TO KILL! THEY ARE "VEHICLES" OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION. All other "vehicles" are registered and owners must pass tests to be licensed to use them. Why not guns also? Gun registration and training and testing with rules and regulations do not hamper your Second Amendment rights if you are safe and sane and responsible as an American citizen. But with guns, there is another added problem: the possibility of gun-running for profit from states with loose laws to supply the crazed demands for firearms in inner city ghetto areas where being armed is like living in Wyatt Earp's times of the Wild West. Years ago, the U.S. Congress passed a Uniform Commercial Code to standardize paperwork for much of interstate commerce. Today's need for up-to-date gun laws requires us to develop a modern registration system, administered nationwide by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). COME ON AND WAKE UP AMERICA - STOP THE SLAUGHTER OF INNOCENTS!

Deaths from Mass Shooting gun violence are increasing every year. We urgently need to identify the causes and treatment of mental health disorders for those who may become a danger to themselves and others. Funding for mental health care must be increased and adding a fee to all gun and ammunition sales would work in the same way as the tax on cigarettes for cancer research.

Hi, my name is Jim Tate, I’m starting this petition through MoveOn.org because I stand with those Sarasota City Commissioners who support the reform of “Stand Your Ground” in Sarasota. Area Republicans are already expressing their displeasure. Gun Crazy right wing Republicans are calling it “an outrage!” and e-mailed Republican Party members castigating commissioners for including Stand Your Ground reform in its list of priorities. Let's show Sarasota Commissioners our support for the reform of Stand Your Ground in Sarasota and that WE'VE GOT THEIR BACK! By signing this petition.

In 2013, a bipartisan bill to close the 'gunshow loophole' in New Mexico died in the final minutes of the legislative session. In 2014, we're ready to finish what we started. But, Governor Martinez must agree to place gun violence prevention on the agenda for the 2014 legislative session and legislators must start working on a bipartisan bill to fix our mental health record reporting system and approve background checks for firearms purchases.

Just look for yourself at the variances in requirements in the 50 state laws regarding ownership and use and transport of firearms. Click on this link to see for yourself and judge this hodge-podge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_United_States_by_state We need a uniform system - to be developed by Congress and good in all parts of America and its possessions and territories. This whole system is out of date and out of touch with reality. There is undocumented but widespread profiteering from gun-running from the south which has extremely loose and lax laws, transporting stockpiles of weapons to northern cities for resale at blackmarket prices to those who should not have a gun. This pandering feeds on the fears and fantasies and cravings for security and power by those who know no opportunity than the rule of the jungle - to take by force. THE USELESS CARNAGE OF INNERCITY INNOCENT YOUTHS BY IRRESPONSIBLE GHETTO GANGBANGERS MUST END - BY OUR TURNING OFF THE SPIGOT OF SUPPLY OF WEAPONS TO IDIOTS.

In the past week, there have been another two news stories regarding guns that have received international attention: the brilliantly thwarted potential massacre in another elementary school, in Atlanta, Georgia, and the random fatal shooting of an Australian exchange student in Oklahoma. When I heard in a foreign news report, about Mexico City's Gun Swap Program, I had to wonder: Why isn't this being tried in the U.S.? - It sounds like just what we need.

It’s been four months since Senator Ayotte voted against criminal background checks and the 89% of her constituents who support them. Since then, she’s screened out constituent questions on the topic, dodged press interviews, and rotated through reasons why she sided with the NRA lobby over Granite State families. It's high time Senator Ayotte held a gun violence prevention town hall so that constituents can speak with her directly about this important topic. Please help us call on Senator Ayotte to hold a town hall on gun violence prevention during Congressional recess this month.