Remember that NRA event for legislators I told you about? Well, ProgressNow Nevada wants the Gang of 63 to boycott the event and sent a letter Monday to lawmakers asking them not to go.
The event is this Saturday, and I wonder what is more dangerous: Going or not going. The letter is below.
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FROM: Brian Fadie, Executive Director, ProgressNow Nevada
TO: Nevada Assembly and Senate Representatives
January 14, 2013
Honorable Representatives:
I write to you on the one-month anniversary of the Newtown, CT massacre asking
that you do not attend the National Rifle Association lobbyist event on January 19, 2013 in
Las Vegas.
The NRA seems to hold a special status of power in the minds of the media and
some decision makers. It should be noted that of the $16,554,803 the NRA Political Victory
Fund spent on the 2012 election only 0.81% of these expenditures benefited a winning
candidate. Also, a comprehensive study of all 1038 NRA endorsements in the 2004-2010
election cycles found the NRA’s endorsement swung the result in just four races.
Americans want elected officials who have the courage and independence to stand
up to the gun lobby. That kind of leadership is what we need to fix our broken gun laws and
reduce the daily toll of gun violence in our country.
Bad guys can keep getting guns when the NRA lobbyists have rewritten our laws
with so many loopholes. The gun lobby weakens our gun laws, flooding the illegal market
with firearms and mass ammo clips -- then complains that too many dangerous people have
guns.
Our leaders should act now to make it harder for dangerous people to buy guns and
easier for police to stop them. A common sense public safety agenda includes legislation that
will get military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines off our streets and require
every gun buyer to pass a criminal background check.
The Newtown shooter was armed with enough ammo to kill every student at the
school. He used an AR-15 military-style assault rifle to kill the children -- a weapon that
could be covered by a strong new assault weapons ban.
In Nevada the shooter at the restaurant in Carson City in 2011 used an automatic
assault rifle to empty three magazines in 85 seconds, killing four people, including three
Nevada National Guard soldiers, and wounding seven other people.
Attending this gun lobbyist event would be a signal to all Nevadans of a willingness
to continue to bow to the mythical power of the NRA, when what Nevada needs more than
ever is the leadership to stand up to these lobbyists that have worked to make guns more
Remember that NRA event for legislators I told you about? Well, ProgressNow Nevada wants the Gang of 63 to boycott the event and sent a letter Monday to lawmakers asking them not to go.
The event is this Saturday, and I wonder what is more dangerous: Going or not going. The letter is below.
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FROM: Brian Fadie, Executive Director, ProgressNow Nevada
Comments: