“This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well.” – President Barack Obama, June 12, 2016

“We have to face the fact that meaningful gun control has to be a part of homeland security . . . We need to do something to minimize the opportunity for terrorists to get a gun in this country.” – U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, June 14, 2016

“I am proud to announce that after 14+ hours on the floor, we will have a vote on closing the terror gap & universal background checks.” – Tweet by Connecticut Senator Christopher Murphy, June 16, 2016

Inaction is not an option. In the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history we can and must do everything in our power to end this scourge of terror, hate and bullets that fly across our land killing and maiming and breaking hearts and traumatizing communities with ever increasing frequency. How can inaction continue to be an option in the face of senselessness and intolerance fueled by guns? We must act to save our country’s soul and the lives of our people — all of our people.

The June 12 attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando was both our nation’s worst act of terrorism since 9/11 and a hate crime. In that it was all too common: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are too likely targets of hate crimes in America. A large number of victims were gay people of color who were celebrating Latin Night in what many said they trusted and believed was a desperately needed “safe space.” But as we have seen over and over again, America is running out of safe spaces. Not Pulse. Not Bible study at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church. Not an office holiday party in San Bernardino. Not a movie theater in Aurora. Not a dorm or university hall at Virginia Tech. And not a first grade classroom in Newtown, Connecticut, in a country where hate, bigotry, terrorism, and mental illness collide with unfettered access to these weapons of war that leave us with no hiding spaces unless we do something now.

Connecticut Senator Christopher Murphy couldn’t face the families of the children of Sandy Hook unless he did something. The Senate filibuster he led in the aftermath of the Orlando slaughter lasted for more than 14 hours before there was bipartisan agreement to allow a vote on two common sense amendments that would make all of us and our nation safer. Creating a “No Buy List” so that the more than 800,000 people on our terror watch lists cannot legally buy guns in America should be an easy decision for all of us. Closing the loopholes in existing background checks to reach sales at gun shows and through the internet to keep more criminals, would-be terrorists, and others from buying guns should be another easy decision. The evidence is clear that expanded background checks work. A recent study found that a Connecticut law that expanded background checks on all handgun purchases helped achieve a 40 percent reduction in gun homicides during the first 10 years following the law’s enactment. These are measures the majority of Americans strongly support — and it’s long past time that Congress followed the will of the people instead of the will of the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers whose profits are soaked in the blood of our people.

The majority of Americans also support reinstating the ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines that have been used time and time again: to kill the innocent children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the innocent people in the Aurora movie theater, the innocents in San Bernardino, and now Orlando. Why should it be perfectly legal to buy an AR-15 in a Five Guys parking lot in Vermont the day after the massacre at Pulse with no background check and no paperwork at all? Weapons designed for war are now as easy to buy as a loaf of bread. Since 1963 more than 176,000 children have died from gun violence in America — over three times more than all the soldiers killed in action in the Vietnam War and every external conflict since. Our children have a right to grow up in a caring and decent society that protects their right to live and learn in safety. That right must take precedence over anyone’s right to own assault weapons or high capacity magazines that have nothing to do with self-defense or hunting and have no place in the hands of non-military and non-law enforcement personnel. Without these weapons of war how many would be alive today? How many Newtown or Aurora or Orlando victims would have survived?

Senator Murphy said while paying tribute to Sandy Hook victims teacher Anne Marie Murphy and 6-year-old Dylan Hockley before ending his filibuster at 2:11 a.m. this morning: “It doesn’t take courage to stand here on the floor of the United States Senate for two hours or six hours or 14 hours. It takes courage to look into the eye of a shooter and instead of running, wrapping your arms around a 6-year-old boy and accepting death as a trade for just a tiny little-itty piece of increased peace of mind for a little boy under your charge.” Senator Murphy then asked his colleagues a question we should all ask our elected officials in the upcoming days: “If Anne Marie Murphy could do that, then ask yourself: What can you do to make sure that Orlando or Sandy Hook never happens again?”

Unless we want to give up and agree that the only way to survive our nation’s gun violence crisis which goes on and on and on in this land of ours, is for every adult, teenager, and child in America to own a gun, we need to provide common sense safety solutions like a “No Buy List,” universal background checks, and a ban on assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines — now. Our children are afraid for their friends, their families, and themselves. And this needs to change. We all need to stand up until we are heard and laws are changed. Contact your Senators right now to urge them to support these common sense safety solutions all of us so desperately need. Please act now.

Inaction cannot not be an option in a decent, caring nation that purports to value human life.