Source: Credo Action
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/senate_nra_arated/?akid=7828.4584760.zgPD8i&rd=1&t=6
| Thank Harry Reid and the NRA A-rated senators who supported a vote on expanding background checks | |
The petition reads:
"Thank you for refusing to support the filibuster of the background checks bill. While we don’t agree with your support for the NRA in the past, we want to thank you for doing the right thing and going against the NRA to support an up-or-down vote on background checks. You did the right thing when it mattered. We support you in the continuing fight to pass sensible gun laws."
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The vote is past but the anger has not subsided at the defeat of a modest and truly common sense bill to expand background checks for gun buyers. We want to take a moment to ask you to thank some senators who most often find themselves on the opposite side of the debate when CREDO is fighting for progressive values.
Eight of these senators have A-ratings from the NRA. Harry Reid has been highly rated by the NRA in the past. And CREDO fiercely opposes the NRA, which we believe is responsible for blocking all reasonable federal gun legislation over the past 25 years.
But when the Senate had a chance, for the first time in decades, to strengthen our nation's gun violence prevention laws, Senators Casey, Donnelly, Heinrich, Johnson (SD), Manchin, Tester, Toomey, and Warner — who are all A-rated by the NRA1 — bucked the gun lobby in an attempt to get up-or-down vote on expanding background checks for gun buyers. Even Senator Harry Reid, who has a B-rating from the NRA, voted against the filibuster, and later, for a ban on assault weapons — something we did not expect he would do based on his record.
Whether you consider their votes courageous, or simply the least they could do given the overwhelming support from their constituents2, it’s important to thank them for doing the right thing when it was hard for them to do.
When members of Congress, like this group of senators, refuse to cave to the gun lobby we need to make sure they know we recognize their actions. Even if we don't always agree with their politics, now is the time to support their efforts to push sensible gun laws forward.
If you thought that the massacre of 20 children and 6 educators at Sandy Hook elementary would have finally shamed the NRA into backing-off enough to allow some of the most modest reforms to pass, you were wrong.
While the filibuster of the Manchin-Toomey amendment — which gave the background checks bill the votes to pass with a simple majority — was a victory for the NRA, the defection of these eight senators is notable, as was Sen. Reid's support of a ban on assault weapons. And we must build on their support to lay the groundwork for victories in the future.
From the hundreds of thousands of petition signatures, to the thousands of calls and rally attendees, the activism of CREDO members has helped contribute to the shift in the debate on guns, and create space for these senators to act.
Now let’s make sure these senators know that Americans remain firmly in support of stronger gun violence prevention laws.
Click the link below to automatically add your name to our thank you message to Senator Reid and the eight A-rated senators who voted in favor of stronger background checks:
http://act.credoaction.com/go/447?t=4&akid=7828.4584760.zgPD8i
Thank you for your activism — it makes a difference.
Jordan Krueger, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
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1. Aaron Blake, "Where the Senate stands on guns — in one chart." The Washington Post, December 17, 2012.
2. Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, "Most back new gun, immigration laws, Post-ABC poll shows." The Washington Post, April 16, 2013. |
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