Sunday, November 29, 2015

On Friday, a well-regulated militia opened fire on a Colorado Springs women's clinic, killing three (including one police officer) and injuring nine (including five police officers).

The name of the well-regulated militia?
Robert Lewis Dear, 59.
He seems nice.
Not crazy at all, oh no.

Sign CREDO's petition to stop domestic gun violence now!

Friday’s mass shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood health center and last week’s white supremacist attack on a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis are stark reminders that horrific gun violence perpetrated by domestic terrorists continues to be one of the most real and present threats to Americans’ safety. We agree with President Obama who said, "The last thing Americans should have to do, over the holidays or any day, is comfort the families of people killed by gun violence… This is not normal. We can’t let it become normal.”

More than 76,000 CREDO activists have already joined you in demanding that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell act to make Americans safer by passing real gun control legislation.

We know that Republicans won’t break their ties with the NRA unless we force them to act. The more people that sign the petition, the more powerful our voices will be. Can you share this action with your friends and family via email, Facebook, or Twitter? Or just forward the e-mail below?

Thank you for standing up to the NRA.

- Heidi

P.S. You can go directly to our petition calling for gun control legislation by clicking here.

CREDO Action
How Mitch McConnell can make Americans safer
Tell Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
“Take real action to protect American lives by helping pass a package of gun control legislation that includes closing the NRA-backed terror gap that allows known terror suspects to purchase guns.”
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►

Stop the NRA
After the recent attacks in Paris and Beirut, Republican politicians used hateful, Islamophobic rhetoric to call for xenophobic restrictions on refugees — all allegedly in the name of keeping Americans safe.

Yet right-wing Republicans in Congress have done nothing to pass any reasonable proposals to protect our communities from senseless domestic terrorism. And Friday’s mass shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood health center, alongside last week’s white supremacist attack on a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis, is a stark reminder that horrific gun violence perpetrated by domestic terrorists continues to be one of the most real and present threats to Americans’ safety.

As President Obama said in response to the latest tragedy in Colorado, "The last thing Americans should have to do, over the holidays or any day, is comfort the families of people killed by gun violence," adding, "This is not normal. We can’t let it become normal." President Obama continued, “[W]e have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them. Period. Enough is enough.”1

Tell Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: Act to make us safer. Bring real gun control legislation to the floor for a vote. Click here to sign the petition.

It’s outrageous that Republicans are so eager to fearmonger and race bait on behalf of our “safety” but refuse to do anything to combat the epidemic of gun violence that kills more than 33,000 Americans every year. If Republicans actually want to make us safer, they must do everything they can to pass a comprehensive package of gun control reforms, including a bill to close the NRA-backed terror gap which has allowed more than 2,000 people on the terror watch list to purchase guns since 2004.2

With Republican hypocrisy currently in the media spotlight, it’s time to ramp up the pressure on them to finally act.

Tell Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: Act to make us safer. Bring real gun control legislation to the floor for a vote. Click here to sign the petition.

The xenophobic policies offered up by Republicans in the wake of the Paris and Beirut attacks are simply jaw-dropping:

  • Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz suggested bombing innocent civilians in the Middle East.3
  • Twenty-six Republican governors have vowed, without any legal authority, to block Syrian refugees from their states.4
  • Presidential candidate Jeb Bush joined Sen. Cruz in proposing that we block Syrian refugees based on religion — admitting Christian but not Muslim refugees.5
  • The House passed a bill requiring the FBI director, the secretary of Homeland Security and the director of National Intelligence to personally sign off on every refugee from Syria or Iraq.6
These policies are especially offensive in light of the fact that there is legislation that Congress could pass right now to actually reduce gun violence. The Senate could:
  • Close the terror gap by allowing the Department of Justice to block guns sales to anyone on the terror watch list. Between 2004 and 2014, more than 2,000 people on the list purchased guns in the U.S.
  • Close the loophole that allows people to buy guns without undergoing background checks through private sales, at gun shows and online. An estimated 40% of all firearms transferred in the U.S. are transferred by unlicensed individuals not required to conduct background checks on buyers.7
  • Ban convicted domestic abusers and stalkers from buying guns. Abused women are five times more likely to be killed by their abuser if that individual has access to a firearm.8
  • Prohibit the manufacture of assault weapons and "large capacity" magazines for civilian use.
If Republicans really want to protect Americans, they need to break their blind allegiance to the NRA and pass gun control legislation. But they’ll never act unless we force them. Can you add your voice today?

Tell Senate Republican leaders: Act to make us safer and pass real gun control legislation. Click the link below to sign:

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/McConnell_GunViolence?t=9&akid=16218.1059363.ColbZC

Thanks for standing up to the NRA today,

Heidi Hess, Campaign Manager

CREDO Action from Working Assets
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►
References:
  1. Jonathan Martin, “Obama Says ‘Enough is Enough’ after Colorado Shooting,” New York Times, November 28, 2015.
  2. Closing the Terror Gap in Gun Background Checks,” Everytown for Gun Safety, July 21, 2015.
  3. Judd Legum, "In Response To Paris, Ted Cruz Calls For Airstrikes With More ‘Tolerance For Civilian Casualties’," ThinkProgress.org, November 13, 2015.
  4. Sarah Frostenson and Dara Lind, “Here's a map of every state refusing to accept Syrian refugees,” Vox.com, November 18, 2015.
  5. Amy Davidson, “Ted Cruz’s Religious Test for Refugees, New Yorker, November 16, 2015.
  6. Camila Domonoske, “House Votes To Increase Security Checks On Refugees From Iraq, Syria,” NPR, November 19, 2015.
  7. Universal Background Checks & the “Private” Sale Loophole Policy Summary,” Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, September 10, 2015.
  8. Gabby Giffords, National Domestic Violence Prevention Leaders Applaud New House Legislation to Keep Guns out of the Hands of Abusers,” Americans for Responsible Solutions, July 22, 2015.

IF IT'S NOT YOUR BODY, IT'S NOT YOUR DECISION! Stop reproductive rights domestic violence NOW!

 
 
It's past time for the Department of Justice to investigate clinic violence as domestic terrorism.

There are few words to convey the sadness and the anger that I feel today.
On Friday, a heavily armed man opened fire in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. Before he surrendered to authorities, he injured nine people and killed three, including police officer Garrett Swasey, who had served in the Colorado Springs Police Department for six years. My prayers go out to everyone affected by this horrifying attack, especially our friends and allies at Planned Parenthood. I'm also so grateful for the bravery of the first responders and law enforcement officers for doing all they can to save lives.

You’ve been active in our clinic violence campaign already throughout the fall, and we can't thank you enough for sending your support to abortion providers and to women seeking their services. But our campaign is even more urgent now, and we need your help to make sure we have as many petition signatures as possible before we deliver them this week—along with those gathered by our allied organizations, including UltraViolet, CREDO and the Courage Campaign—directly to the DOJ.

Will you forward this email to five friends and ask them to sign our petition calling on the DOJ to investigate clinic violence as domestic terrorism? Or, copy and paste this link and send it to them via whatever social network you choose: 

http://actnow.prochoiceamerica.org/sign/151006_clinicviolence/?source=1128mailing&t=2&akid=668.37227.RWTFK7

I went to sleep last night thinking about women. How we deserve the dignity to decide when to end a pregnancy. How our decisions should be free from judgement and definitely, at the very least, free from the fear of violence and death. I thought about the doctors who have given their lives in service of women and the ones who should be able to go to work every day without wearing bulletproof vests. And I thought about how these extremists—even after shooting nine people—can surrender alive, when that basic right is not afforded to so many people who have done far less.

But mostly, I have been thinking that this attack is one in a long line of arsons, firebombings, and murders that have been perpetrated against facilities, doctors, and clinic staff that serve us—women—when we most need them. And it has to stop. Now.

Tyranny like this thrives on the silence of the majority. We can stop this if we stand together. While we can't bring back those who died, and we can't promise there won't be more attacks on doctors and women, we *can* do something about it.

Please help us spread the word by forwarding this email to five of your friends or by sending them this link:

http://actnow.prochoiceamerica.org/sign/151006_clinicviolence/?source=1128mailing&t=4&akid=668.37227.RWTFK7

It won’t be an easy fight, but we can start with an easy step. Thank you for your strength, your will, and your bravery.

Ilyse Hogue
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America