168 Organizations from the Campaign Against Assault Weapons Demand a Ban on #WeaponsOfWar in the State of Florida

Dear Members of the Florida State Legislature:

As a mother of four from Sandy Hook who has lived through the horror of our neighbor killing his mother in her bed then senselessly gunning down 20 innocent children and six educators, I beg you to honor the lives lost in Parkland, Orlando, Las Vegas, Sandy Hook and beyond by immediately banning assault weapons, high capacity magazines and bump stocks. After the Sandy Hook tragedy, the Connecticut State Legislature passed a ban on these weapons of war and now Connecticut is one of the safest states in the nation. Please #HonorWithAction.

Po Murray,
Mother of Four from Sandy Hook, CT
Steering Committee Member of the Campaign Against Assault Weapons
Chairwoman, Newtown Action Alliance

AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT, SENATE PRESIDENT JOE NEGRON, HOUSE SPEAKER RICHARD CORCORAN, AND SENATE JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN GREG STEUBE

February 20, 2018

Dear Governor Rick Scott, Senate President Joe Negron, House Speaker Richard Corcoran, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Greg Steube:

We send you our thoughts and prayers for the loss of your constituents to another heartbreaking mass shooting incident in the State of Florida. Your state is now the home of the two deadliest mass shooting incidents in modern U.S. history.

After the deadly Orlando shooting, you took no action to keep your citizens safe from gun violence and now 17 families from Parkland have been devastated by another senseless and preventable act of gun violence.

The 19-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter was able to legally purchase Smith & Wesson M&P15 assault rifle in your state to turn a place of learning into a bloody warzone. The same assault rifle was used to kill 12 people and wounded 70 others in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado in 2012 and to kill 14 people in a community center in San Bernardino, California in 2015.

Military-style semi-automatic assault weapons are designed to efficiently kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time available. There is absolutely no reason for assault rifles, assault pistols, and assault shotguns to be sold to civilians.

Governor Dannell Malloy and the Democratic and Republican members of the Connecticut State Legislature passed the second strongest gun laws in the nation -including a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines - after 20 children and six educators were senselessly gunned down in Sandy Hook Elementary School. Now, Connecticut is ranked 46th for gun death rate - one of the lowest in the nation. Conversely, Florida is ranked 26th for gun laws and 25th for gun death rate.

For the past two legislative sessions, the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence and the League of Women Voters of Florida have implored you to ban the sale of military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in your state. Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Sen. Linda Stewart have introduced bills calling for these bans, but neither have been placed on their legislative committees’ agenda to be heard.

We, the 168 organizations from the Campaign Against Assault Weapons, implore you to immediately put SB 196 and HB 219 on the legislative committee agenda, hold a hearing and work to pass these life-saving measures to keep your constituents safe in Florida. If you fail to take action to honor the lives lost in Parkland and Orlando then we will implore your constituents to hold you accountable on Election Day.

Sincerely,

A New Routine for America

AIDS CT

All Saints Church Pasadena Gun Violence Prevention Task Force

All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church

American Federation of Teachers

Anna's Place: A Franciscan Hospitality Center

Arizonans for Gun Safety

Art = Ammo, Artists Against Gun Violence

Avaaz

Battle Born Progress

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with Million Mom March

Brave New Films

Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition

Broader Representation Advocacy Team- Political Action Committee (BRAT-PAC)

Californians For Gun Safety

Campaign to Unload

Ceasefire Oregon

CeaseFire Pennsylvania

Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church

Central Lutheran Church

Chicago's Citizens for Change, Inc.

Childrens Firearm Safety Alliance

Coalition Against Gun Violence, a Santa Barbara County Coalition

Coalition for Peace Action

Coalition of Nebraskans Against Gun Violence

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

CODEPINK Women for Peace

Colorado Ceasefire

Colorado Faith Communities United to End Gun Violence

Concert Across America to End Gun Violence

Congregation Kol Ami

Connecticut Against Gun Violence

Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence

Democracy for America

Disarm Hate

Doctors for America

Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt, NY

Dominican Sisters of Peace

End the Madness

Episcopal Peace Fellowship

Equality California

Every Child Matters

Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence

Families4peace

Felician Sisters of Livonia

First Church

FIVE AWAKE

Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence

Franciscan Peace Center

Franciscan Sisters

Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph

Franciscan Sisters of the Poor

Friends Against Violence Everywhere (FAVE)

GAYS against GUNS

Gays Not Guns

Georgetown Against Gun Violence

Georgia Alliance for Social Justice

Georgians for Gun Safety

Global Exchange

Grandmothers Against Gun Violence - Cape Cod

Grandparents Against Gun Violence (MO)

Greenwich Council Against Gun Violence

Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart

Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah

GunControlToday

GunsDown

Gunsense Vermont

Hands Up for Gun Safety (HUGS)

Hawaii Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence

Healing 4 Our Families & Our Nation

Heeding God's Call

Herndon-Reston Alliance To End Gun Violence

Holman United Methodist Church

Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence

Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence

International Health & Epidemiology Research Center

Iowans for Gun Safety

Jessi's Message

Jewish Women International (JWI)

Joint Action Committee

JPIC Office of the Wheaton Franciscans

Justice, peace and integrity for creation committee

Latin America Working Group Education Fund

League of Women Voters of Florida

LGBT4GVP

Louisiana Violence Reduction Coalition

LPAC

MA Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence

March For Racial Justice #M4RJ

Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence

Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence

Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Caucus

Mike the Gun Guy

MomsRising

Monmouth Center for World Religions and Ethical Thought

MoveOn.org Civic Action

Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

National Council of Jewish Women

National Domestic Violence Hotline

National Education Association

National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund

National Medical Council on Gun Violence

National Physicians Alliance

National Women's Law Center

New Castle Promise

New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence

Newtown Action Alliance

North Carolina Council of Churches

North Carolinians Against Gun Violence Education Fund

Northwest Corner Committee for Gun Violence Prevention

Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence

Oklahoma Gun Sense

One Pulse for America

Pacem in Terris-Delaware

Physicians for the Prevention of Gun Violence

Pride Fund to End Gun Violence

Progressive Congress Action Fund

Project End Gun Violence

Protect Minnesota

Protest Easy Guns

Rabbis Against Gun Violence

Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence

Safe Campus Colorado

San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention

Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Sisters of St. Joseph

Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet

Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Albany Province

Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, LA Province

Sravasti Abbey

St. Mark's Episcopal Church Capitol Hill DC

St. Sabina's Church

States United to Prevent Gun Violence

Step Up, Step Out: End the Culture of Violence, a ministry of Asylum Hill Congregational Church

Stop Handgun Violence

Stop Killing Innocent People (SKIP)

Stop the Violence Coalition, Buffalo, NY

Stop the Violence Prayer Chain, Wilm. DE

Survivors Empowered

Team 26

Temple Micah Gun Violence Prevention Group

The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus

The Connecticut Effect

The ENOUGH Campaign

The Greater Phoenix Million Mom March

The Safe Tennessee Project

The Washington office on Latin America

Theodore Parker Church UU Social Action Committee

Union for Reform Judaism

Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey

Violence Policy Center

Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles

Virginia Center for Public Safety

Virginia Gun Violence Prevention Coalition

Vision Quilt

Washing Ceasefire Foundation

Washington Ceasefire

Washington National Cathedral Gun Violence Prevention Group

We The People For Sensible Gun Laws

Wheaton Franciscans

Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort Ed Fund

Women Against Gun Violence

Women Against the Violence Epidemic (WAVE)

Women's March

Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice, St. Louis, MO