Gun control now, justice for Keenan, RCV Day and more…
Contact all members of Congress:
- By phone: (202) 224-3121
- By email: democracy.io
- By US mail: Representatives / Senators
- By fax: Representatives / Senators
- By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
ACT NOW ON GUN SAFETY
This weekend was marred by mass shootings, leaving 10 dead in Monterey Park in California and 12 wounded in Baton Rouge. We must turn our grief and outrage into action. Let’s get involved with Moms Demand Action by texting ACT to 644-33, and contact our MoC to remind them this is the only nation that allows this to happen repeatedly with no meaningful action. In addition, several states have bills pending regarding guns. The NRA makes it easy to find them, and then we know exactly what to do—the opposite of what the NRA says! If we’re in these states, let’s contact our state legislators and tell them:
- South Carolina: Oppose the Constitutional Carry Bill, H 3594, which would allow citizens to carry firearms without a license.
- Missouri: Oppose the Public Transit Carry Bills, HB 282 and SB 224, which would allow citizens to carry firearms on public transit.
- Nebraska: Oppose the Constitutional Carry Bill, Legislative Bill 77, which would allow citizens to carry firearms without a license.
- West Virginia: Oppose the Campus Self-Defense Act, SB 10, which would allow citizens to carry firearms on college campuses.
- New Mexico: Support Mandatory Storage Liability, HB 9, which would make it a crime for a person to store a firearm in a manner that negligently disregards a minor’s ability to access that firearm.
- DEMAND JUSTICE FOR BLACK SCHOOL TEACHER WHO DIED AFTER BEING TASED BY LOS ANGELES POLICEEarlier this month, in a response to a traffic accident, Keenan Anderson was arrested by the Los Angeles Police and tased several times for ostensibly not cooperating. Four hours later he went into cardiac arrest and died. Questions are being raised as to why this story did not break immediately and whether the LAPD used unnecessary force. Let’s contact the Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, and ask her to re-evaluate the use of armed police at traffic stops, which has resulted in far too many unnecessary killings.
- PUSH FOR ACTION ON ABORTION RIGHTS AT THE STATE LEVEL
The battle for abortion rights will continue to be fought fiercely in state houses across the country this year. The Guttmacher Institute, a leading pro-choice research and policy organization, has written a guide to eight different ways state policymakers can take action in 2023. Let’s check it out, see which recommendations aren’t being followed in our state, and then push our governors and state legislators to step up and lead where they’re falling short.
- ATLANTANS OPPOSE “COP CITY” One way MLK Day was celebrated this year was with a demonstration to object to the use of “domestic terrorism” charges against the six people arrested for protesting against “Cop City,” a plan approved by the Atlanta City Council to lease 85 acres of forested land in a predominantly Black area of DeKalb County (not represented on the City Council) to the Atlanta Police Foundation for a $90 million police training facility, the largest in the US. Objections come from residents, environmentalists, Black Lives Matter activists, historians, and from those who see better ways to spend so substantial an allocation of public resources —and from those of us who find the idea of a military firing range, a Blackhawk helicopter landing pad, a “mock village” in which to practice “crowd control,” among other things, problematic. Activists have been holed up in treehouses in the forest for months in protest. We can offer our support to any of the following organizations:
- Stop Cop City: stopcop.city
- Atlanta Solidarity Fund: atlsolidarity.org
- Community Movement Builders: communitymovementbuilders.org
- SUPPORT RANKED CHOICE VOTING *TODAY*Key leaders in the fight for our democracy agree: we can reduce extremism and polarization in our politics by more widely adopting ranked-choice voting. Today, the advocates at Fair Vote Action and Rank The Vote are celebrating RCV Day (because it’s 1/23)! Let’s check out this map of their organizing events and see if we can attend. If not, let’s join in their social media storm using this toolkit.