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Statement

STATEMENT OF KRISTIN ROWE-FINKBEINER, Executive Director of MomsRising, On NRA Response to Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

December 21, 2012
Gun Control

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Today, Wayne LaPierre blamed everything except guns for the tragic deaths of 20 children and seven adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He even went so far as to suggest arming school personnel to avoid gun violence, and putting armed security in every school in the nation. 
 
Instead of putting guns in our schools and forcing our children to live in fear every day, we should let them focus on learning -- and demand that our leaders worry about keeping dangerous weapons off the streets, out of schools, and away from our children.
 
All of Mr. LaPierre’s arguments and finger pointing are merely ways of deflecting the primary source of gun violence in our country. That source is guns. That’s why MomsRising is renewing its call for Congress to pass common sense gun policies. 
 
Today, the NRA once again abdicated its responsibility for the gun violence that plagues our country by bringing to bear every resource it has to oppose even minimal, low bar, common sense efforts to improve gun safety, like ending the gun show and internet purchasing loopholes, and taking deadly assault weapons and high capacity magazines off the streets.
 
Putting more guns in schools isn't the answer, as LaPierre so cynically recommends. We need common sense gun violence prevention laws that include:
  • Universal background checks for all gun purchases, including gun shows and on the Internet.
  • An assault weapon ban, which also limits high capacity magazines.
  • A federal gun trafficking statute with real penalties to stop the illegal sales of guns between state-to-state and international jurisdictions.
Wayne LaPierre asked why we don’t cherish our children more than money. We absolutely do. We cherish our children above all else. We want to know why Mr. LaPierre does not cherish our children more than his guns.
 
At MomsRising, we have more than a million members, many of whom are also members of the NRA.  We're hearing from people across the political spectrum that it's time for more logical thinking about our gun safety policies.
 
Today, we got an unequivocal message from the NRA that it is not truly committed to ending gun violence and will do anything it can to continue to support the manufacture and sales of the guns that are killing our children. We send back an unequivocal message that we will not give up until common sense gun laws prevail.
 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.