BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS Today’s mass shooting took place in Louisville, KY; in it 5 people died and 8 were injured. It is the 146th mass shooting this year. Steven Beschloss has written a very persuasive piece on our “suicidal” gun laws, worth our reading. While Biden expresses willingness to see an assault weapons ban, Congress shows no inclination to act. In fact, (S.25) Assault Weapons Ban of 2023 introduced in January has yet to make it out of committee. We must pressure our Congressional representatives to, at the very least, restore the assault weapons ban. In addition, there are many state and local actions to be taken, but Everytown for Gun Safety is a good place to begin our agitation against assault weapons.
HOUSE NEEDS TO VOTE ON BILL TO REPEAL WAR AUTHORIZATIONSThe Senate voted to repeal “the war authorizations that justified the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War.” The House companion bill, H.R. 932, needs to be passed before it can go to President Biden’s desk. It appears that there is bipartisan support. Let’s ask our representatives to approve this bill and get us back on track.
LAUNCH AN OFFICE OF GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION Rep. Maxwell Frost, the Gen-Z congressman who got into politics as an organizer with March For Our Lives, has introduced his first bill: (H.R.1699), an effort to establish a permanent Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the federal government. The office would centralize the federal government’s efforts on gun violence, collecting data, making policy recommendations and reporting to the President and Congress. Senator Chris Murphy has introduced companion legislation in the Senate (S.951). In light of this epidemic of gun violence, let’s contact our members of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor these bills and let them know we support this plan.
USING TECH TO GET OUT THE VOTEOn Wednesday, April 19, 8-9 pm ET, Action Together Network is hosting a webinar on using tech tools to get out the vote. “Organizers in red, blue, and purple states will discuss how these tools are helping them elect Democrats and progressives at local and state levels, including getting young people involved.” We can register here.
ACCESSIBILITY FOR DISABLED VOTERSWhile we have discussed barriers to voting for people with physical disabilities, voting also remains inaccessible for many people with cognitive and developmental disabilities. Election information is often not presented in plain language, making the process of registering to vote, learning about candidates and issues, and filling out a ballot prohibitively difficult. Some people are also automatically disenfranchised when they are placed under guardianship, while others must prove “mental capacity” to vote, depending on (and sometimes in violation of) the state law. Let’s help improve accessibility for people with cognitive and developmental disabilities by 1) sharing these plain language voting resources from the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, 2) visiting the National Disability Rights Network to learn more about guardianship in our state and how to retain the right to vote, 3) using this sample letter from the Bazelon Center to ask our state and federal representatives to protect voting rights for our disabled communities, and 4) asking our MoC to reintroduce the Accessible Voting Act.
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