1. United States
2. Nev.
3. Letter

How many more school shootings must we endure before we finally take action? How many children need to be slaughtered in classrooms before we decide that protecting lives is more important than appeasing the gun lobby? After a single terrorist attack on U.S. soil, we completely overhauled air travel—none of us can bring a water bottle through security. Yet, despite hundreds of mass shootings every year, Congress refuses to act. Why is our government more willing to regulate shampoo bottles than assault weapons? The time for thoughts and prayers is over. The majority of Americans—across political lines—support commonsense gun reform. Everytown for Gun Safety and 97Percent have outlined bipartisan solutions that can help prevent future tragedies: 1. Require universal background checks for all gun sales. 2. Close gun sale loopholes and ensure background checks apply to all commercial firearm purchases. 3. Lift the ban on gun violence research by the CDC so we can address this crisis with data-driven solutions. 4. Pass an Extreme Risk Protection Order Act (a “red flag” law) to allow family members and law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from individuals in crisis. These are not extreme measures. These are commonsense policies that will save lives. An entire generation of children is growing up practicing active shooter drills—learning to hide under desks and barricade doors instead of focusing on their education. They will not tolerate this inaction when they are old enough to vote. But how many more lives will be lost before then? This issue affects every single one of us. We cannot keep waiting. The time to act is now. I urge you to support and champion these critical reforms before another preventable tragedy takes place.