After every gun violence tragedy in the U.S., “thoughts and prayers” are offered to comfort victims and devastated families, while proposed actions to prevent further such atrocities are dismissed by NRA-backed members of Congress as politicizing and hysterically decried as efforts to “take away guns.” Our 3rd District representative, Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, whom the National Rifle Association gives an “A” rating, seems to be of this ilk.
Herrera Beutler, while offering hollow words of condolence, is simultaneously legislating for a future of even more gun violence: co-sponsoring concealed carry reciprocity legislation that will diminish states’ gun laws, furthering access to gun silencers that will likely make mass shootings even deadlier, and refusing to support CDC research into gun violence, a glaringly devastating public health crisis.
While too many lawmakers respond to gun tragedies by saying that “now is not the time” for policy discussions, they are backhandedly promoting legislation that will continue such tragedies, thus ensuring that, by their estimations, there will never be an appropriate time to discuss sound gun policies. Please call Herrera Beutler’s office today and demand that she protect our citizenry, not the NRA, by enacting common-sense gun laws and supporting research into gun violence now.
