Author: Ladd Everitt

Update: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell originally indicated he was planning a vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill on September 30, 2017—the deadline to pass legislation under budget reconciliation. But when Republican Senators John McCain and Rand Paul said they would vote against Graham-Cassidy, McConnell tabled the bill on September 26, 2017. Thanks to everyone who took this action and helped preserve critical health care coverage for gun violence victims and survivors!

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Congressional Republicans have not given up on their efforts to do away with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and are planning to bring a repeal bill up for a vote before September 30 (when their ability to pass the legislation with 51 votes expires). The bill was introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA). It would “eliminate federal funding for Medicaid expansion and for Obamacare subsidies that lower premiums, deductibles and co-pays in 2020.”

Every year, more than 80,000 Americans are injured by firearms. The Affordable Care Act has assisted many gunshot victims in their path to recovery by ensuring their access to Medicaid and other critical coverage/services. Without the ACA, many of these victims would die or suffer needlessly.

Please call your two U.S. Senators through the U.S. Capitol Hotline at (202) 224-3121 and give them the following message:

Please vote NO on the Graham-Cassidy bill when it comes to the Senate floor. The repeal of the Affordable Care Act would be particularly devastating to gunshot victims, who depend on Medicaid and other coverage/services provided by the law. If the ACA is repealed, many of these victims will suffer, or die, needlessly. I will be watching your vote very closely and making my decisions on voting, philanthropy, activism and organizing based on it.

If you do not know who your two Senators are, click here (this link will also give you direct dial phone numbers for their DC offices):

https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

Once you have contacted your Senators, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Update: Murderer Tyler Tessier committed suicide in jail on September 6, 2018, the day his three-week trial for killing Laura Wallen was set to begin. Wallen’s mother, Gwen, called Tessier a “diabolical human.” “As awful as today is, I feel at peace,” she said after learning of Tessier’s death.

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Two weeks ago, Tyler Tessier drove his on-again, off-again girlfriend Laura Wallen to a grocery store and then to a wooded area in the northern part of Montgomery County. Laura was four months pregnant, a fact known to Tessier. Tessier was keeping a secret from her, however—he had recently become engaged to another woman. The two women had just found out that Tessier was dating the other.

Tessier decided to cover his secret by executing Wallen with a gun shot to the back of her head. Then, days later, he attended a news conference with Wallen’s parents and pretended to mourn her death.

Police found Wallen’s body on Wednesday. Tessier has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Laura was a rare person who showered everyone around her with love, a teacher that genuinely cared about her kids. She taught social studies at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland. One student recalled something nice Laura would do for him and said, “It would put a smile on my face every time. She was such an amazing lady. She did whatever she could to make us happy.”

We can’t bring Laura back, but we can honor her memory. Please take one of the following two actions today to honor her memory:

1) Per the family’s request, make a donation to In Honor of Her, a nonprofit that has raised nearly $500,000 in support of domestic violence survivors. These funds have assisted local women’s shelters, supported community awareness programs, and contributed towards scholarship funds. You can make a donation here:

http://inhonorofher.org/donate/

2) Post the following status message and link to Facebook (post it PUBLIC, if you’re willing, so more see it):

You might have heard about a terrible shooting that just occurred in Maryland in which a pregnant school teacher was killed by her boyfriend. The teacher’s name is Laura Wallen and she had a special connection with her students at Wilde Lake High School, where she taught social studies. They called her “Wallaby with the jellyfish hugs” because she always wanted to embrace them. One student said, “She wanted you to be involved and happy all the time; she didn’t want you to be sad or left out or alone.” Another said, “She was a friend first, teacher second.” We’ve had a very special person taken from us. Click here if you’d like to read more about her. The stories are incredibly moving. Read the final paragraph in the following article to see how you can support Laura’s family:

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Pregnant-Maryland-Teacher-Killed-Was-Shot-Police-Say-444565343.html

Once you have taken one of the two actions above, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

The story has become so familiar it is sickening. A negligent father provides his suicidal young son with immediate access to firearms. The son then uses those weapons to kill and injure innocents.

It happened again on Wednesday in Rockford, Washington. 15 year-old Caleb Sharpe went to Freeman High School with an assault rifle (.223 caliber) and handgun and killed another student. Three other students were wounded by gunfire, but will recover. The shooting would have been far worse if Sharpe’s assault rifle had not jammed immediately.

Both Sharpe’s parents and school officials knew he was suicidal. Sharpe’s mother reports that he had written a suicide note one week prior to the shooting. And yet Sharpe’s father gave his son open access to his firearms and ammunition in the home. The 15 year-old was even posting videos of himself simulating shootings with real firearms on YouTube.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich is blaming the shooting on the media and a lack of mental health laws, without even mentioning guns. That’s not going to cut it.

Please contact Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Haskell through the channels below and give them the following message:

Caleb Sharpe’s father is responsible for arming a son he knew was suicidal. He is an accessory to the hideous crime that happened at Freeman High School on Wednesday. You are going to charge a 15 year-old boy as an adult with first-degree, premeditated murder. Charges should also be brought against the grown man who directly facilitated this homicidal act. The type of absolute negligence this gun owner displayed is totally unacceptable and a direct threat to the public’s safety. Bring charges against the father of Caleb Sharpe.

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich
Phone: (509) 477-2240
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpokaneCountySheriffsOffice/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/spokanesheriff

District Attorney Larry Haskell
Phone: (509) 477-3662
Email via webform: https://www.spokanecounty.org/formcenter/157/157
Twitter: https://twitter.com/spokanecounty

Once you have contacted Sheriff Knezovich and DA Haskell, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

September is Suicide Awareness Month and a good time reflect on the fact that suicides account for a majority of gun deaths each  year in the United States of America.

On World Suicide Prevention Day, photographer Joe Quint (It Takes Us: Stories of Gun Violence from Across America) and Everytown for Gun Safety released a powerful video featuring survivors Diane Sellgren, Dorothy Paugh, and Eddie Weingart talking about their experience with gun suicide. It’s not only moving, but also incredibly informative, dispelling virtually all gun lobby myths about gun suicide.

Please watch the video, and then share it, at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/ittakesus/videos/1512138128875010/

Once you have shared the video on Facebook (or elsewhere), click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Update: On October 3, 2017, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced the SHARE Act was no longer on the House schedule. Ryan indicated there are no plans to bring the bill back up for consideration. Additionally, Congressman Peter Defazio, a Democrat from Oregon, has removed himself as a sponsor of the SHARE Act. Thanks to all those who contacted their Representative asking for this dangerous bill to be tabled!

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Today, the House Federal Lands Subcommittee conducted a hearing on the dangerous “Sportsmen Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act” (SHARE Act) introduced by Congressman Jeff Duncan (R-SC) on behalf of the National Rifle Association.

Contrary to its name, the SHARE Act is a regressive piece of legislation that would do the following:

• Eliminate the longstanding and successful licensing and registration process for civilians who wish to obtain firearm silencers. Furthermore, the 900,000 silencers already in civilian hands could be transferred through private sales, with no background check!
• Require the government to destroy records of silencer sales/transfers.
• Prevent the government from classifying ammunition as “armor-piercing,” thereby guaranteeing its sale on the civilian market.
• Nullify state gun laws preventing the possession of dangerous firearms, allowing individuals in states with weak gun laws to transport their assault rifles through any state in the country.
• Allow hunters to shoot and kill bear cubs in their dens while they are hibernating.

Please call your representative in the House of Representatives through the U.s. Capitol Hotline at (202) 224-3121 and give him/her the following message:

As your constituent, I urge you to vote NO on the SHARE Act. This reprehensible piece of legislation purports to be about “recreation” and “conservation,” but in reality is a Christmas tree for the gun lobby. It is packed with provisions that would financially benefit the gun industry by allowing them to sell military-style accessories (silencers) and ammunition (armor-piercing) freely on the civilian market. The SHARE Act is an obvious threat to public safety. It angers me that the House is wasting taxpayer resources spending time on it. I will be watching your vote on this legislation closely, and making decisions as a voter, donor and activist based on it.

Once you have contacted your U.S. Representative, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Update: On October 3, 2017, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced the SHARE Act was no longer on the House schedule. Ryan indicated there are no plans to bring the bill back up for consideration. Additionally, Congressman Peter Defazio, a Democrat from Oregon, has removed himself as a sponsor of the SHARE Act. Thanks to all those who contacted their Representative asking for this dangerous bill to be tabled!

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One of the NRA’s top priorities during the 115th Congress is to roll back longstanding laws governing civilian access to firearm silencers. Now the NRA is attempting to sneak an amendment into a sportsmen’s bill–the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act (SHARE Act)–to achieve that goal.

In 1934, Congress passed the National Firearms Act (NFA) and established a licensing and registration system for civilians seeking to obtain silencers. In doing so, Congress acknowledged that silencers are dangerous products that make it more difficult for law enforcement to identify active shooters (by masking muzzle flash and making it more difficult to hear gunfire).  This federal regulation has been a tremendous success–silencers have rarely been used in gun crimes over the past 83 years.

Silencers have no “recreational” purpose–there were designed to allow assassins to kill surreptitiously. The risk of unregulated silencers is simply too great, particularly in an America that faces daily mass shootings and other gun-related horrors. More than 900,000+ silencers are currently owned by civilians who have gone through the NFA’s licensing/registration process. If the NRA’s amendment to the SHARE Act was passed, these silencers could be transferred through private sales, which do not require any background check on buyers.

Please sign the following petition by Everytown for Gun Safety to tell your Members of Congress to remove the NRA’s dangerous silencer provision from the SHARE Act:

http://act.everytown.org/sign/tell-congress-oppose-silencers-bill/

After signing the petition, click the orange banner below to report taking action!