Six months past Tucson, gun violence unabated

Six months ago, ordinary citizens of Tucson like small business owner Patricia Maisch went on an ordinary morning to meet with their congresswoman at the local supermarket. But the "meet and greet" event suddenly became a tragedy that left six people dead and 13 others injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

In the days that followed January 8, the world's attention turned to Tucson in the U.S. Southwest. Soon after the shootings, President Obama said that he and our leaders would work hard to stop dangerous people from getting their hands on guns. In an op-ed to the Arizona Daily Star, President Obama called for fixing our gun laws and wrote that “none of us should be willing to remain passive in the face of violence or resigned to watching helplessly as another rampage unfolds on television.” But in the months since, the Obama administration has left this promise unfulfilled.

The six lives that were taken that January morning are now gone. And, during the last six months, more than 6,100 other Americans have been murdered with guns. But President Obama can take sensible steps right now to stop these tragic shootings in the future. 

The President doesn’t need to wait for Congress to pass new laws to do this. In fact, the White House has been meeting with stakeholders for months to develop administrative reforms that will improve public safety.

Now it’s time to put them into place. The more than 600 mayors who compose 

Mayors Against Illegal Guns 

suggest these four simple steps the President can take immediately to reduce gun violence:

1. Enforce background-check reporting so people like the Tucson shooter can’t buy guns in the first place. 
2. Remove federal red tape that currently obstructs U.S. investigations of illegal gun-trafficking operations. 
3. Enact a long-planned program to track bulk sales of assault rifles along the border to help stop Mexican drug cartels from stockpiling U.S. weapons. 
4. Improve law enforcement at gun shows where criminals and terrorists easily buy guns with no questions asked.

There’s nothing preventing the administration from taking these common sense steps to prevent gun violence. Tell President Obama it’s time to act -- add your name to their open letter:

www.FixGunChecks.org/SixMonthsLater

If you add your name to the letter before Tuesday at midnight, they’ll deliver your signature to the President.

Tell President Obama it’s time to crack down on illegal guns.


Source: Mayors Against Illegal Guns