Tag Archives: Gun politics

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a message from Gov Inslee

12/10/2013 Nativegrl77

In 1994, I faced a difficult decision: do the right thing and cast the deciding vote for the Federal Assault Weapons Ban — likely losing my congressional re-election in the process — or take the politically easy route and vote against it.

I voted for it. And to this day I stand by my position supporting commonsense, responsible gun safety legislation.

Now in the state of Washington, we all have a chance to do the right thing by supporting I-594, an initiative requiring criminal background checks for gun purchases in our state.

Passing I-594 won’t be easy. Our opponents are rallying to try to stop us, even going so far as to declare December 15 — one year and one day after the Sandy Hook massacre that left 20 people dead — “Guns Save Lives Day” in an effort to build opposition to sensible gun reform laws.

Don’t let the gun lobby and the gun makers profit off the anniversary of one of the worst tragedies our nation has ever known. Sign the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility’s open letter today, and demand the gun lobbyists cancel their outrageous “Guns Save Lives Day.”

Look, we have plenty of responsible gun owners in Washington, and an overwhelming majority of them support criminal background checks because they’re responsible gun owners.

Not the sponsors of “Guns Save Lives Day.” There is nothing responsible about exploiting the death of innocent little children — even worse when it’s done to stop reforms that could prevent future tragedies. They should cancel this horrific excuse to celebrate guns, and stop spreading misinformation about responsible, reasonable reforms like I-594.

Join me and tell the gun lobby this is completely unacceptable. Sign the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility’s open letter now, and demand the gun lobbyists cancel “Guns Save Lives Day” now.

Responsible gun owners know there are sensible things we can do to keep guns out of the hands of people like Adam Lanza, and they’re eager to stop the next tragedy — not exploit the last one.

Thankfully, the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility is leading the charge to fight back against “Guns Save Lives Day” — spearheading efforts to educate Washingtonians about I-594 and why it’s the right thing to do for Washington and our kids. I’m proud to join them, and I hope you’ll help out, too.

Sign the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility’s open letter today, and help them fight back against “Guns Save Lives Day.” now.

Thanks for your support.

Very truly yours,

Jay Inslee

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It’s in the numbers

11/09/2013 Nativegrl77


	It’s all about numbers. Elections may seem complicated, but they’re really just a simple math problem. We know 80% of Washington voters support making our state safer by extending criminal background checks to all gun purchases. We’re going to need 50% + 1 of the votes next year for something called I-594. Slam dunk, right? Not so fast. We also know our opponents will do everything they can to scare and confuse voters. To make criminal background checks a reality, we need to reach out to millions of voters to let them know what I-594 will do — and to defeat the scare tactics and misinformation the gun lobby will use to intimidate folks into voting against a measure that even gun owners overwhelmingly support. That takes a lot of work, a lot of planning, and a lot of support from thousands of committed people just like you. Thanks to the generous support of more than 2,500 donors we are in good shape — but to keep on track, we need 594 more to stand up for a safer Washi‌ngton by Novem‌ber 22. We’ve set a goal of recruiting 594 donors by November 22 — click here to contribute $3, and help ensure that we have the resources to make Washington safer! 594 donors by 11/22/2013 to help us get 1,600,000 votes in 2014. Those are the kind of numbers we’re dealing with — and we need your help to get there. Thanks in advance! Zach Silk WA Alliance for Gun Responsibility

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Zach Silk, Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility

07/18/2013 Nativegrl77

We won in court last week — and the judge gave us some very clear, very honest, language for our petition gathering, which will start in the next few days.

And, as a fellow supporter, I wanted to say thank you — and share with you the language that was approved for this campaign, so you can be sure as to exactly what we’re trying to do with I-594.

It’s game time — and we need to get enough signatures to make sure that Washington can vote to protect our families by requiring a background check on all gun purchases.

You’ve already taken the first step.

Will you click here to help us build the campaign by sharing this image on Facebook, and asking your friends and family to endorse I-594?

With your help, we beat the gun lobby in court — but that just got us in the door, and we have a long way to go before we’re done.

Thanks for everything — we’d not have gotten anywhere near this far without your help.

Talk to you soon,

Zach Silk

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Zach Silk, Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility

07/11/2013 Nativegrl77

What happens t‌omorrow afternoon could determine who has more power in our state — 80% of Washington‘s citizens, or a tiny group composed of the national NRA leadership and the local gun lobby.

Last week, after the secretary of state released the language that we will use on our petitions to ensure that Washington gets to vote on requiring anyone buying a gun to pass a simple background check, that tiny group of ideologues filed a lawsuit to change it.

So we have to go to court t‌omorrow afternoon — and the judge’s decision on how we word the ballot title could be the difference between passing a measure that 80% of us support, or letting the NRA leadership and the gun lobby have their way.

Help us win the first battle of this campaign by contributing $3 to fight for fair petition language!

I know, it doesn’t seem like much, but the wording of a petition will matter A LOT when voters decide if they want to help us get on the ballot.

With fair wording, it’s going to be up to the voters to make their own decision — and we have a great change to make our state a lot safer.

With unfair wording, the NRA leadership and the gun lobby can scare a lot of voters who support criminal background checks away — and who knows what could happen.

We can’t afford to take that chance. Contribute $3 today to help us fight for a fair chance!

That’s all we ask for — a fair chance to let the voters decide.

And it all starts t‌omorrow.

Thanks again,

Zach Silk

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Under the Gun

04/04/2013 Nativegrl77 2 Comments

By ThinkProgress War Room

Weak Gun Laws & High Levels of Gun Violence Go Together

Today, our colleagues at the Center for American Progress put out an important new study examining the relationship between a state’s gun laws and its rate of gun violence. Unsurprisingly, the states with the weakest gun laws tend to also be the states with the highest rates of gun violence.

Here are the ten states with the highest levels of gun violence:

As both common sense and hard data indicate, 8 of these 10 states are among the 25 states with the weakest gun laws. Indeed, the 10 states with the weakest gun laws have more than double the rate of gun violence of the 10 states with the strongest gun laws.

On the flipside, states with strong guns have low levels of gun violence. The five states with the lowest levels of gun violence — New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — are all among the ten states with the strongest gun laws.

Here’s a chart showing how all the states rank in term of gun violence:

To find out exactly where your state’s gun laws rank and where it ranks in terms of gun violence, please click HERE.

BOTTOM LINE: Gun violence prevention laws matter and they work. It’s time for Congress to act on strong gun violence prevention laws — especially universal background checks — so all Americans can be protected, no matter which state they live in.