How to call your senators and state representatives about gun control
On October 2nd, the day after the largest mass shooting in United States history took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, the White House stated that it was not the time to talk about gun control. Now, just over a month later, another 28 people have been murdered in Sutherland Springs, Texas — their lives claimed by a man with a rifle who was never supposed to own one.
It was time to talk about gun control before Las Vegas happened. It was time to talk about gun control before the Pulse Nightclub shootings in 2016; before San Bernardino in 2015; before Sandy Hook in 2012; before Columbine in 1999.
With our country and our government divided, it’s up to us to start making forward moves. The first step is to call our senators and state representatives and ask them to address this issue head-on. Americans are being murdered at a devastating rate, and we can’t keep falling back into the mourning, outrage, and ignoring cycle. Enough is enough.
Getting in contact with your senators and representatives is easy. You can check out Senate.gov’s senator contact page, which is where you can easily access your senators’ phone numbers and email addresses. Similarly, you can head over to House.gov’s representative contact page and enter your zip code to see the representative in your area along with their contact information.
To make the search even easier, Everytown for Gun Safety crafted a form for us to fill out that will direct us to all government officials’ numbers we can call to make our voices heard.
This page also educates visitors about the "concealed carry reciprocity" bill Congress introduced that would "allow stalkers, domestic abusers, and people with no safety training to carry hidden, loaded guns in public — even the legally blind," the site states.
Once you reach the office of your senator or representative, it’s important to prepare yourself with facts in order to make your point. Let them know that you’re disturbed by the annual 12,000 gun homicides in America. Tell them you’re appalled by the 93 gun deaths that occur in America on a daily basis. And inform them that seven children and teens are killed by guns daily and that, each month, about 50 women are shot to death by their romantic partners.
Finally, ask your senator or representative if they’re okay with the fact that mass shootings have become normalized in American society.
Because nothing is being done to tighten gun laws, we seem to be sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting for the next incident to occur and hoping it doesn’t happen in our community.
Thoughts and prayers are not enough. In the wake of Sutherland Springs, turn your thoughts and prayers into action. Call, email, sign petitions, share statistics, and send texts. If our government won’t talk about gun control, we will. And we won’t be quiet about it.
