The Senate Must Abolish the Filibuster and Pass Meaningful, Popular Gun Violence Prevention Measures
“Voters Sent Our Leaders to the Senate With a Mandate: To Not Allow Hate and Violence to Continue to Threaten Our Communities”
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, in the wake of the horrific attack on Asian American women in Atlanta that killed eight people and wounded more, Reverend and Professor Dr. Stephany Spaulding, founder of Truth and Conciliation and member of the Just Democracy coalition released the following statement.
"The attack we saw on Tuesday night in Atlanta was devastating, sinophobic, and the direct result of over a year of virulent and violent anti-Asian American sentiment spread and elevated by leaders across the country. Just Democracy unequivocally stands with the AAPI community in their quest for justice. People of color are disproportionately killed by gun violence and Congress refuses to do anything about it, and we saw the consequences of that last night in Atlanta. Gun violence has been a tool of white supremacist violence since our nation’s founding. The only way to pass lifesaving solutions is to abolish the Senate filibuster.
Voters sent our leaders to the Senate with a mandate: to not allow hate and violence to continue to threaten our communities. The filibuster must be abolished and we must pass common sense gun violence prevention legislation in order to prevent hate and bigotry from turning into violence and murder.”
Last week, the House passed H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, and H.R.1446, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021. H.R. 8 would ensure that every gun purchase requires a background check — a critical policy since approximately 1 in every 5 gun sales are currently conducted without a background check. H.R. 1446 would close the deadly ‘Charleston Loophole,’ which was exploited by the white supremacist who killed nine parishioners at the Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina in 2015. Now, they have advanced to the Senate, where both bills will be blocked by the filibuster like countless other pieces of legislation that would address gun violence in all its forms.
# # #
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Website: https://www.justdemocracy.us
