To: The Washington State Senate
Demand an explanation from the Washington State Senate
At the gun safety hearing in Olympia on Wednesday, January 29, victims of gun violence who attended to testify on behalf of the universal background check initiative—I-594—were met with ridicule, hate, and rancor directed at them by gun lobbyists and a few of Washington's state senators. This behavior was deeply offensive and appalling.
We at the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility are working hard to make Washington's communities safer by passing universal background checks for Washington state. We're fed up with this kind of callous disregard toward victims of gun violence.
We're demanding an explanation from state Senate leadership for the outrageous behavior of gun lobbyists and state senators alike.
We at the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility are working hard to make Washington's communities safer by passing universal background checks for Washington state. We're fed up with this kind of callous disregard toward victims of gun violence.
We're demanding an explanation from state Senate leadership for the outrageous behavior of gun lobbyists and state senators alike.
Why is this important?
In 2006, I was shot in the abdomen in my workplace by a deeply troubled young man. And I was lucky to have survived -- one of my coworkers did not. Since that fateful day, I have fought through twenty surgeries, a coma, and months and months of PTSD therapy.
I don't know if you had the chance to follow the hearing about gun safety in Olympia -- but I went to testify in favor of I-594.
Brian Judy, a gun lobbyist, noted that I-594 wouldn't have stopped Newtown's Adam Lanza from taking his mother's gun and then turning it on her. He even joked, "I think that [one] was the 'murder your mom' loophole." Both he and state Senator Steve O'Ban chuckled.
Would you joke about someone murdering their mother and then killing twenty children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary?
Then there was Senator Roach, who has been told to seek counseling for threatening her employees and even brandishing a handgun at one. She did everything possible to degrade the testimony of myself and other survivors, and to question our motives. Why shouldn't I want legislation that would prevent the kind of everyday gun violence that threatens our communities, even if I-594 would not have stopped the gunman who shot me?
I know at a personal and profound level the damage that gun violence does -- and Republicans in the state Senate, as well as lobbyist Brian Judy, would prefer I stay silent.
I've already delivered one round of signatures to the State Senate to demand an explanation for this outrageous and offensive behavior. And I'd like to deliver more.
Thanks for your support,
Cheryl Stumbo
Sponsor of I-594
Jewish Federation Shooting Survivor
I don't know if you had the chance to follow the hearing about gun safety in Olympia -- but I went to testify in favor of I-594.
Brian Judy, a gun lobbyist, noted that I-594 wouldn't have stopped Newtown's Adam Lanza from taking his mother's gun and then turning it on her. He even joked, "I think that [one] was the 'murder your mom' loophole." Both he and state Senator Steve O'Ban chuckled.
Would you joke about someone murdering their mother and then killing twenty children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary?
Then there was Senator Roach, who has been told to seek counseling for threatening her employees and even brandishing a handgun at one. She did everything possible to degrade the testimony of myself and other survivors, and to question our motives. Why shouldn't I want legislation that would prevent the kind of everyday gun violence that threatens our communities, even if I-594 would not have stopped the gunman who shot me?
I know at a personal and profound level the damage that gun violence does -- and Republicans in the state Senate, as well as lobbyist Brian Judy, would prefer I stay silent.
I've already delivered one round of signatures to the State Senate to demand an explanation for this outrageous and offensive behavior. And I'd like to deliver more.
Thanks for your support,
Cheryl Stumbo
Sponsor of I-594
Jewish Federation Shooting Survivor