The Courage to Agree on Guns
What we are experiencing should not be normal.
The U.S. is unique among developed countries at nearly?30x the number of deaths by gun violence .?Firearms are now the leading cause of death among U.S. children and adolescents aged 1 to 19 .?In 2020 alone, guns claimed the lives of 4,300 children — the equivalent of a Boeing 747 crash every month for nine months. We are?more numb than ever ?to the regularity of these atrocities, and being numb to mass murder is a screaming indication that something is very, seriously wrong.
?While our lawmakers are?at a standstill , we the people are in lockstep on this issue: based on an aggregate of polls ranging from 84% to 97% support,
After every atrocity like Sandy Hook or Uvalde,?support for gun control rises significantly, then drops as the news fades . We must stop this recurring nightmare of?rinse and repeat ?and tell our leaders that our memories are longer than a 24-hour news cycle. Our elected officials may be divided, but?we?are not: if there was ever an issue to counter the infighting of our political leaders and force decisive action, it is this one. If there was ever a time not to dull the blade of our emotion into complacency, it is now.
If you look to your left and look to your right, you will find that?we are united ?on common-sense gun laws — and our unity is our power. We have the compassion to know that something must be done and the curiosity to determine the steps that must be taken, and now we must have the?courage?to demand recognition of our consensus. It is high time our leaders reflect that democratic will in policy before we are once again forced to mourn lives that should never have been taken in the first place.?
We’re starting with us. We hope you are, too.
With courage,
The Starts With Us Team
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This week, we are holding space for our humanity. We are taking the time to remember?those innocent souls ?we have lost to senseless violence. We honor the lives of educators Eva Mirales and Irma Garcia, who died shielding their students. We grieve the lives of:
Uziyah Garcia
Xavier Lopez
Amerie Jo Garza
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez
Eliahana Cruz Torres
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Eliahna “Ellie” Garcia
Rojelio Torres
Jaclyn Cazares
Jailah Nicole Silguero
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio
Tess Marie Mata
Makenna Lee Elrod
Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo
Layla Salazar
Maite Yuleana Rodriguez
Maranda Mathis
Alithia Ramirez
Jose Manuel Flores, Jr.
All of the children were 9 to 11 years old. We hold this grief along with grief for the many other Americans who have died from gun violence in the past few weeks alone, including those?slaughtered at a grocery store in Buffalo ?and?the 14 mass shootings that happened just this past Memorial Day weekend .
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