100 signatures reached
To: Sen. Ben Sasse and Sen. Deb Fischer
Pass Common Sense Gun Control & Ban Assault-Style Firearms in Nebraska
An open letter to all Nebraska Politicians.
My name is Laura and I am a mother in Lincoln, NE. I am very concerned about the amount of gun violence in our country. We are the only developed nation to suffer from staggering numbers of gun
deaths every year.
I gave birth to my first child, Lila, in September of last year. The fear I feel for her safety is astronomical
and a constant anxiety of mine. Not only that, but the guilt of bringing her into a world where children die everyday because people in our country (you) are bought by gun lobbyists weighs heavily on me.
I will do everything I can to protect her and other children from these senseless acts, and it starts here.
Stop taking money from the NRA. Vote for better gun laws. My family should feel free to go to work and
school and to the movies without worrying that someone will shoot us on purpose or by accident.
I would like you to vote for public safety and against gun extremism. I also want you to work for strong
gun laws that will protect my family and me. We do not need more guns in under-trained hands, and I would like you to stand up for common sense gun law.
Please, for baby Lila and all the other babies and children, do this. For the mothers with empty arms, do this. "Senators Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse have received $84,583 combined in NRA support." How
many children's lives is that worth to you? 10? 20? 100? It shouldn't be worth even one. Please.
PLEASE. We are begging you. The mothers and fathers are on our knees, BEGGING you to make this a safer place for our children.
Have the day you deserve.
Why is this important?
The number one cause of death for children in the United States is firearm-related. Yes, you read that correctly. Surpassing motor vehicle crashes for the first time ever. As a mother and just a human -being, this is horrendous, terrifying, and frankly makes me sick. This is so preventable.
Something has to change. Our forefathers never would have guessed what the future would hold. So what can we do? What do we need to change? The answer - gun reform.
Gun. Reform. Works.
It just does. Other countries have proved it.
Below is an article of other nations that have enacted reform and change for safer gun laws. We need to do the same!
Things first change at a state level. If many states enact change, the likelihood that change will happen at a federal level will go up.
Please sign this petition to tell Nebraska politicians to protect us and our children with common sense gun control laws and to ban assault-style firearms.
Thank you and be safe.
May 26 (Reuters) - A shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 children and two teachers has revived a push for new gun safety laws in the United States, which has more firearms than people and more permissive gun laws than many other high-income countries.
Over 200 mass shootings have been reported in the United States in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group. More than 45,000 people died from gun-related injuries, including suicides, in the United States in 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Stricter gun laws have been introduced in the U.S. Congress after past mass shootings, but they have been defeated by Republicans, independents and some moderate Democrats.
Here's how other nations have reacted after similar shootings.
CANADA
After the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre, in which 14 women engineering students were killed in their Montreal classroom, new legislation required safety courses, background checks and increased penalties for some gun crimes.
In 2020, shortly after a gunman shot and killed 13 people in Portapique, Nova Scotia, Canada banned more than 1,500 models of "assault-style" firearms and components, and set limits on how destructive bullets could be.
Canada's rate of firearm homicides is 0.5 per 100,000 people, versus the United States' rate of 4.12, the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) said in a 2021 analysis.
AUSTRALIA
After a gunman killed 35 people at a cafe and tourist site in 1996, Australia banned all semi-automatic rifles and all semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns. Thousands of unlicensed firearms were surrendered under a gun amnesty program, and licensed gun owners required to take a safety course. read more
The chances of being murdered by a gun in Australia plunged to 0.15 per 100,000 people in 2014 from 0.54 per 100,000 people in 1996, a decline of 72 percent, a Reuters analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed.
UNITED KINGDOM
A gunman killed 16 children and their teacher in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996, prompting a public campaign that led to Britain adopting some of the strictest gun controls in the world. Within two years, new laws effectively banned civilians from owning handguns.
The United Kingdom's rate of gun homicides is 0.04 per 100,000 people, the IHME calculates.
NEW ZEALAND
After the Christchurch mosques shooting that killed 50 people in March 2019, New Zealand's prime minister banned the sale of assault weapons within days. Parliament later voted to bar the circulation and use of most semi-automatic firearms, parts that convert firearms into semi-automatic firearms, magazines over a certain capacity, and some shotguns.
Firearm-related murders were rare in New Zealand and remain so; the country had 12 in 2018 and 11 in 2021.