Target: Chuck Schumer, U.S. Senate Majority Leader
Goal: Advocate for and enact firearm ammunition regulation to curb deadly gun violence epidemic.
A man orders 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the internet and has it delivered to his doorstep. He then massacres twelve people and injures many more in a Colorado movie theater. Five years later, a man in Las Vegas opens fire on a music festival in a ten-minute rampage, unloading an average of 100 rounds of ammunition per minute. Two years after this tragedy, a mass shooter reportedly descends on a Texas Walmart, armed with 1,000 rounds of online-purchased ammunition designed to essentially explode in the body. And in another Texas tragedy, an 18-year-old allegedly purchases close to 2,000 of the same maximum-carnage ammunition and uses it on students at a nearby elementary school.
In the gun safety debate, bullets often get short shrift, to deadly results. While some attempts at firearms regulation are on the federal books, precious little is said about the ammunition that supplies the deadly fire. By and large, in most of the country thousands of rounds of ammunition can be purchased in a single sitting with nary a background check. People do not even need to leave their homes because they can simply go online and have these weapons delivered as if they were ordering from a fast-food service.
Some states have tried to close these gaps. A measure just passed by popular vote in Oregon banning high-capacity magazines. Other states have prohibited the online sale of ammunition, much like online alcohol purchases are limited. And, perhaps most crucially, a few state laws are on the books holding ammunition to the same background check standard as guns.
Sign the petition below to demand national lawmakers finally follow these states’ lead and help save lives.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Senator Schumer,
This year is on-pace to become the second highest for mass shootings in recorded history, with over 600 incidents and thousands of injuries or deaths as testament. Please remember that each of these numbers represents a person whose life was either forever changed or tragically ended. And please keep in mind in the debates that are surely to come the often-overlooked role of unchecked and unregulated ammunition in these tragedies.
In this nation today, according to federal standards, any person can order a few thousand rounds of hollow-point or other devastating ammunition as conveniently as they might order a pizza. They face no background checks, no limits on the amount or type of ammunition they purchase, no online restrictions, and no accountability.
Some states have stepped in where American leaders have so consistently failed, but when neighboring states ignore their duties to protect the public welfare then the danger inevitably spills over. These actions need to be a team effort, or they are rendered meaningless.
Make a resolution that the new year will herald this needed change and that by year’s end America will be making headlines not for lives ended but for lives saved.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Heypete
Guns! What are they good for? The people living in America should not be in fear every where they go. I strongly feel the NRA has a responsibility and the gun sellers need to answer as well because they sell on line which they feel grants them cover. This must change. The sub culture is out there shooting up the entire country yet rarely are they held accountable. Until the law catches up with these crimes this will continue to happen. However, shootings must stop! It’s insane to continue to feed this issue.