Shannon WattsKonto zweryfikowane

This is a thread on what's been accomplished since Sandy Hook to stop gun violence, including the efforts of @MomsDemand, which I started as a Facebook page on 12/15/12. Since then, we've become a grassroots army of women (and men) in every state working to change gun culture.

Since 2012, we've passed stronger gun laws in dozens of states. We helped close the loophole that allows private gun sales without a background check in 10 states, both by ballot initiative and through state legislatures. We've passed laws to disarm domestic abusers in 26 states.

We've helped ban bump stocks in six states. We've helped pass Red Flag Laws, which allow families or police to petition a judge for a temporary restraining order to remove the guns of someone who is a danger to himself or others, in five states.

These laws have been signed into law by governors in both blue and red states, including Republican governors in Kansas, Maryland, Vermont, and Florida. Prominent Republican governors in Ohio and Michigan have also indicated a new openness to signing similar bills.

And we have a 93% track record of killing bad @NRA-supported bills during legislative sessions, including bills to force guns into K-12 schools and college campuses; expanding Stand Your Ground laws; and permitless carry, which allows concealed carry without a permit or training.

This year alone, we helped defeat a West Virginia guns on campus bill; Indiana bills to repeal the state’s handgun carry license requirement and allow loaded handguns in schools; permitless carry and guns in schools bills in Alabama; and a bill to arm teachers in Tennessee.

And we've changed corporate gun policies at dozens of major restaurants and retailers, including Starbucks, Target and Facebook. And we've worked with thousands of local businesses across the country to put up signage prohibiting guns, including daycares.

We're winning elections, too. In November, we won eight out of eight of the elections in which we endorsed candidates, including electing gun sense champions in Virginia and New Jersey. In Virginia, polling showed the GOP gubernatorial candidate's @NRA ties hurt him with voters.

Also in November, 13 @MomsDemand volunteers ran for office; nine won. Dozens more are running this coming November in places like Montana, Arizona, Iowa and Georgia, including @LucyWins2018, who is running for Congress. 400+ volunteers say they plan to run in a future election.

In addition to statehouses and boardrooms, we're winning in courthouses. SCOTUS let stand a Florida Supreme Court ruling that upheld state law prohibiting open carry, as well as a ruling that upheld San Diego’s requirement that there needs to be good cause to carry concealed.

A federal appeals court backed the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging Washington state’s background check ballot measure. And the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit struck down a dangerous law prohibiting doctors from discussing firearms with their patients.

And earlier this year, despite the appointment of Gorsuch, SCOTUS announced it would let stand a Ninth Circuit decision in Silvester v. Becerra upholding California’s ten-day waiting period for firearm purchases. The courts recognize states' authority to pass strong gun laws.

And while we wait for a cathartic Congressional moment, take solace in the fact that even though the @NRA gave $30M to Trump and tens of millions more to Congressional campaigns, their priority federal bills, Concealed Carry Reciprocity and deregulating silencers, have stalled.

The @NRA has tried to pass Concealed Carry Reciprocity several times. It passed the House in 2011 with 118 votes as its margin of support. In 2017, it passed the House with a margin of only 33 supportive votes. Thankfully it's still stalled with no imminent vote in the Senate.

In addition, a bipartisan group of Congressional House members recently introduced H.R. 5717, the Jake Laird Act, to authorize the Attorney General to make grants to states that have in Red Flag Laws to authorize the seizure of firearms from dangerous individuals.

What I've come to realize though, after 5 years, is that - like marriage equality - Congress is often where this work ends, and not where it begins. Which is why every American in every generation must get off the sidelines to help stop gun violence where they live. To do that...