Today we NEED ALL HANDS: Stop scrolling and take 2 minutes: LEAVE A COMMENT ON SHB 2240 (Mag ban) & EMAIL ALL HOUSE (D)s! TODAY (Yes, even on a holiday)THREE EASY STEPS
WE'RE MAKING A DIFFERENCE. Legislators are complaining about being inundated. WELL DONE! Yesterday they delayed key votes on this bill. BUT: the anti-gun folks are pushing VERY hard.
WE NEED TO PUSH HARDER. WE NEED TO BE LOUDER!! WE DESERVE TO BE HEARD!!!
The House IS meeting today!
STEP 1: Please visit this link to leave a comment on (Substitute)HB 2240 High capacity magazine ban: Washington State Legislature - Public Bill Comments
Enter your address, select your reps, request a response, enter your contact info, click Oppose, and paste your comments (1000 char limit), and click Send.
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Where is the evidence that this has ANY IMPACT on reducing crime?
Rep. Valdez, the bill sponsor, actually said this bill will not solve gun violence.
Against AG Ferguson's recommendations, The Washington Mass Shootings Work Group specifically did not recommend magazine restrictions to prevent mass shootings.
George Mason University found "very, very little evidence, almost none, that gun violence was any less lethal or less injurious during [the 1994 Federal magazine ban]. They concluded "the ban had not had a discernible impact on gun crime." (US DOJ Testimony)
The Cato Institute said, "A 5- or 10‐round magazine could severely limit the ability of crime victims to defend themselves, especially against multiple assailants." (Cato Institute)
The bill disproportionately punishes the disabled, elderly, injured, or ill citizens attempting to defend their lives.
Please OPPOSE SHB 2240 and keep your constituents safer during the 44,572 violent crimes they experienced in 2018.
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STEP 2: Email EVERY (D) Representative with this message!
STEP 3: And then PASS THIS MESSAGE on to 5 OF YOUR FRIENDS to do the same. Simply copy & paste this message into text/messenger and ask them to help--because everyone's 5 friends will help us drown their inboxes!
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: OPPOSE SHB 2240-Demand evidence not emotion
I'm sure you've heard many emotional pleas to make our communities safer by banning standard-capacity magazines (i.e. the magazines that are shipped standard with most firearms). But where is the evidence that this has ANY IMPACT on reducing crime?
Rep. Valdez, the bill sponsor, actually said this bill will not solve gun violence.
Against AG Ferguson's recommendations, The Washington Mass Shootings Work Group specifically did not recommend magazine restrictions to prevent mass shootings.
George Mason University found "very, very little evidence, almost none, that gun violence was any less lethal or less injurious during [the 1994 Federal magazine ban]. They concluded "the ban had not had a discernible impact on gun crime." (US DOJ Testimony)
During two of the highest profile mass shootings in recent history, "the shooters used 10-round magazines; they just brought a lot of them. These magazines would not have been affected at all by the proposed [magazine] ban." (Gun Control Facts)
The Cato Institute said, "A 5- or 10‐round magazine could severely limit the ability of crime victims to defend themselves, especially against multiple assailants." (Cato Institute)
Reducing magazine capacity punishes anyone who may need to fight off multiple home invaders as 10 or even 15 rounds may not allow defense against a single attacker
The bill disproportionately punishes the disabled, elderly, injured, or ill citizens. They may have neither the ability to carry additional NOR reload multiple magazines to defend their lives from multiple attackers.
Please OPPOSE SHB 2240 and keep your constituents safer during the 44,572 violent crimes they experienced in 2018.
(Feel free to tailor your own subject line and VERY BRIEF points as well.)
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PS: If you share this post, make sure the text copy is shared with it. Otherwise you'll need to copy and paste the text to enable people to copy and paste into their email.
PPS: Find your Legislative District: Washington State Legislature
PPPS: Join the conversation in the Washington 2020 Legislative Action Group Washington 2020 Legislative Action Group - Save your civil rights #F1639
Sources:
"Christopher Koper speaks on his evaluation of the Assault Weapons Ban for the US Department of Justice," C‑SPAN, January 14, 2013, https://www.c‑span.org/video/?c4304369/christopher-koper-george-mason-university
Matt MacBradaigh, "Gun Control Facts: Why a 'High Capacity' Magazine Ban Would Not Prevent Mass Shootings," Mic, January 2013, Gun Control Facts: Why a "High Capacity" Magazine Ban Would Not Prevent Mass Shootings
Matthew Larosiere, "Losing Count: The Empty Case for "High‐Capacity" Magazine Restrictions," Cato Institute legal Policy Bulletin No. 3, July 17, 2018, Losing Count: The Empty Case for "High-Capacity" Magazine Restrictions
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