Knowledge is power. "Because of the Dickey Amendment, there has been almost no publicly funded research on gun violence, leaving lawmakers without critical studies needed to write legislation to combat this epidemic. Even the author of the amendment, former Congressman Jay Dickey, came to regret the piece of policy and called on Congress to reverse the law. " - Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)

Now is the time to take a stand against gun violence. If not now, WHEN? If not YOU, who? Jason Lewis must demonstrate that he will stand with us on making common sense gun laws. Anything less means we will vote him out of office.

I can no longer sit back and watch our children be slaughtered while the NRA pretends they are not the problem in this situation.

This bill has now been moved out of Government affairs and onto the House Floor. If it passes today it will crossover to the Senate. We need to keep up the pressure and make our opposition clear. This is an ill-conceived idea and will harm all residents of Dekalb County, not just Pine Lake.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is a non-political federal agency that grants visas and U.S. citizenship to eligible immigrants. This week, it removed the phrase “nation of immigrants” from its mission statement with no specific explanation. This is a step backwards as to who we are as a nation. Words matter and have power. Our country was built by immigrants and continues to excel because of all the contributions they make each and every day. Make no mistake. The removal of these three words is part of President Trump’s anti-immigrant and xenophobic agenda. Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and the rest of his Administration are using their authority to circumvent Congress whenever possible and make clear that immigrants are no longer welcome in the United States. This goes against our history and our heritage. Immigrants enrich our nation, which is why we must do everything in our power to ensure they are still welcomed into our communities, states, and country. We cannot allow the Trump Administration and USCIS to erode our American values. Please sign this petition demanding that USCIS add “nation of immigrants” back to its mission statement.

Join us in demanding your representative and senators #DefundHate by publicly calling for significant cuts to the detention and deportation machine and opposing any funding bill which wastes taxpayer dollars on this unaccountable and abusive system. Right now, Congress is making decisions about funding for the rest of this fiscal year, and they're considering massive increases in funding for new ICE and Border Patrol agents to terrorize our communities—an immigration detention system known for its abuse and mismanagement, and wasteful and dangerous border militarization, including the border wall. Congress has failed to pass permanent protections for immigrant youth, TPS-holders, or many other members of our communities. ICE and CBP under the Trump Administration have put the detention and deportation machine on steroids, continue to ramp up aggressive and hateful raids and other immigration enforcement, hide information from the American public, and retaliate against anyone who speaks out. With this track record, it's clear that Congress should be looking at cuts in funding, not huge increases! Congress must take steps now to cut funding that rips families apart and and instead invest in programs proven to support communities growing and thriving together like housing, education, nutrition, and health care.

Statistics reveal that our country is much more violent than many other countries in the world which is a horrible reflection on our nation. Other developed nations have established gun control so we have examples to study as we can improve our country like they have done. Safety for all by limiting the guns available can happen with leaders who are committed to those which is what the majority of the country wants. Do we have to become worse than Yemen before we decide there is a problem? Hopefully not.

Today when I opened my Etsy trends email I saw a picture of a Glock gun magazine connector. I never look at guns, so I was horrified to find this among my interests. Even worse, throughout the page of choices there were several offerings of gun-related merchandise. Some were overtly sexual. After the horrors of the recent school shootings, this made me heartsick. Is Etsy now part of the NRA gun culture? Tell Etsy to stop offering gun-related merchandise NOW! To see screenshots I took, please visit my site at www.olivialarosa.com.

Gun violence - especially rage mass shootings -- is a serious and growing problem in the United States. It must be addressed by the restriction or prohibition of military-style assault rifles. REI - which otherwise promotes a healthy outdoor lifestyle -- should take a stand against the problem of gun violence in the United States by immediately ending the sale of products affiliated with a manufacturer of military-style assault rifles. Vista Outdoor is an outspoken supporter of so-called 2nd Amendment rights and sells military style assault rifles. Many supporters of gun control indirectly support this company through the purchase of other brands that it owns, including CamelBak, Bell, Giro, Bushnell, Tasco and Serengeti. As a leading outdoor retailer, REI should take a stand against gun violence by ceasing to carry Vista Outdoor products.

With multiple credible accounts of misconduct, Senator Leach is unfit for office. We must have a clear line of zero-tolerance for sexual misconduct for office holders, regardless of party or politics.

Getting security in our school to protect our children after a shooting threat and not 1 (one) law enforcement officer was on the scene. That's scary. We need them.

As a teacher of 20 years I know, as do my colleagues around the country, that a teacher's main responsibilities are to educate, love, and support her/his students. To ask any of us, in a gun-related crisis, to participate in the carnage and further endanger the students we so love is unacceptable. We are neither qualified nor willing to participate in such a short-sighted, ignorant policy that would ultimately add to the risk and to the loss of life in an already volatile situation. We demand that defensive, NOT offensive solutions be explored and implemented.