Wednesday, June 10, 2009

From CREDO Action

Today's shooting was a tragedy. The gun violence has to stop.
It's time to close the gun show loophole.
close the gunshow loophole! Criminals and corrupt gun sellers can avoid the background checks required by the Brady Bill at gun shows and other events. Rep. Bright should take swift action to close this egregious loophole.

take action now!


First the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-choice extremist. Now the murder of a security guard at the Holocaust Museum by a white supremacist.

These are two horrifying acts of right wing domestic terrorism in as many weeks. No wonder the Department of Homeland Security issued a report last month labeling "rightwing extremism" the "most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States."

And, as we all know, these acts of terrorism were carried out with guns. Scott Roeder, who's being held for the murder of Dr. Tiller, has a history of mental illness and threatened violence against abortion providers a week before he allegedly shot Dr. Tiller. James W. von Brunn, who allegedly killed a security guard at the Holocaust Museum, has his own white supremacy website and is a convicted felon (he stormed the Federal Reserve Bank in 1981).

Why is it so easy for domestic terrorists to get hold of guns?

Here's one way to make it harder. The Brady Bill requires criminal background checks before the purchasing of guns. But there's a tremendous loophole for gun shows and similar events — a loophole that criminals know only too well how to exploit.

Currently, there's a bill in Congress to close this loophole — H.R. 2234, "To require criminal background checks on all firearms transactions occurring at gun shows." We need this law to reduce future attacks like those on Dr. Tiller and at the Holocaust Museum, but it won't go anywhere without significant support in Congress — and right now it has only seven sponsors.

Click here to tell Rep. Bright to co-sponsor H.R. 2234. We need swift action to keep criminals from getting more guns.

Thank you for working to build a safer world.

Kate Stayman-London, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

P.S. If you're on Facebook, please help us spread the word on this important action by posting it to your profile. Just make sure you're logged in when you sign the petition, and click "Tell my Facebook friends about this petition!" to post it to your feed.

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