Kill this “Concealed-Carry-for-Everyone” nonsense in committee. Before someone gets hurt.

Update (11/27): The House Judiciary Committee will debate and vote on HR 38 this Wednesday, November 30th. If it passes the committee, it will move on to a full floor vote.

This bill (H.R. 38), and the matching Senate bill (S.446), would allow people who carry concealed weapons in their home states to carry them into ANY OTHER STATE. In addition, these laws would allow gun owners to sue police for even attempting to verify the status of their permits, according to The Trace and Everytown for Gun Safety.

It would invalidate common-sense requirements that 39 states have for gun safety training, the bans that 30 states have against domestic abusers having gun permits, and the restrictions that 28 states have against convicted stalkers from having permits.

If these are your people…call them to  vote “NO” and kill this horror in committee.

Not your districts but know somebody else who lives there? Call them and ask them to call – TODAY!

Don’t know how to reach these congresspeople?: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code]  to express my opposition to H.R. 38. Continue reading “Kill this “Concealed-Carry-for-Everyone” nonsense in committee. Before someone gets hurt.”

Extend the protections against domestic abusers. YES on S.1539.

Minimal Script for Supporting Senators: I’m calling from [zip code] to thank Senator [___] for co-sponsoring the “Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act of 2017” (S.1539).

More script if you want it: Just as a person who has been convicted of domestic abuse should not be able to legally buy a firearm, stalkers should also be prevented from having guns.

Don’t know if your Senator is a supporter? Click here.
Minimal Script for Senators who are late to the game: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Senator [___] to co-sponsor the “Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act of 2017” (S.1539). Research proves that this bill is necessary to protect lives of women and the general public.
More script if you’re feeling feisty: If the Senator is too busy to do the basic research on this, I’d be happy to send in some reputable source materials.

THANK Senator Feinstein: DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430, email

and THANK Senator Harris: DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884, email

Other Senator Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

More Info: Continue reading “Extend the protections against domestic abusers. YES on S.1539.”

This is not what “freedom” should look like.

Things are starting to turn. Now is the time to press in for responsible gun laws. 

On Nov. 1, 2017, John Chiang, California’s Treasure asked CalSTRS to divest from companies that sell certain kinds of guns and ammunition that are illegal in California.

Our Senator Feinsteinjust introduced the  Assault Weapons Ban of 2017, along with Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.).

Your turn.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [___] to join Senator Feinstein in co-sponsoring and passing the Assault Weapons Ban of 2017.

If your Senators aren’t on this list, call them.

Thank Senator Feinstein: https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me
Thank Senator Harris: https://www.harris.senate.gov/content/contact-senator

Other Senator Contactshttp://www.phoneyourrep.com

Haven’t made any calls on gun violence yet? Ready to do them again?! Go here.

This covers call scripts for the “Background Check expansion“, re-authorizing the CDC to study gun violence, the “Automatic Gunfire Prevention Act” and asks our legislators to vote NO on the “Concealed Reciprocity Act.

More Info.: 

Continue reading “This is not what “freedom” should look like.”

Why we Need to Help our Sister District, CA-25, – and how YOU can Help!

We Venturans can’t vote Knight out, but we can help our neighbors and friends in Simi Valley and Santa Clarita rid themselves of him – and help ourselves by removing one of the 24 Trump minions needed to turn the House blue!

Let us count the ways Steve Knight has betrayed us: He votes with Trump 98% of the time. He voted against our healthcare. He voted for the #TrumpTaxScam.  He’s rabidly anti-choice. He opposed raises to minimum wage for workers. And his environmental record is dismal.

The National Rifle Association gives him an A rating.

2nd amm knight

And we’d bet our shirts that when it’s time to vote for the DREAMers or the Stupid Border Wall, he’s going to rubber stamp Trump too. 

Continue reading “Why we Need to Help our Sister District, CA-25, – and how YOU can Help!”

8 people were killed by a truck in NY. 900 have been killed by gunfire in the last 30 days. We are watching.

1 month update SINCE Las Vegas Massacre (Oct. 1st):

More than 3,000 people have been shot.
(Update: From October 2–31, the nonprofit identified reports of 3,791 people shot in America.) 

At least 900 of them have died.
(Update: Of those wounded, 1,195 died. The figure does not include the 58 who died during the Las Vegas mass shooting on October 1)

This is what that looks like in guns… (gray area for the dead). Each symbol represents a family torn apart, sorrow, pain, suffering and, because we are America, the incredible hardship of huge medical bills for the survivors.

This is ONE month in America.

guns 11.2

In the next few weeks, we will be bombarded by issues related to a radicalized Muslim man and his killing of 8 people with his truck. Trump will be rolling in his xenophobic mud as he tries to leverage this tragedy into more authoritarian power for himself. Continue reading “8 people were killed by a truck in NY. 900 have been killed by gunfire in the last 30 days. We are watching.”

33,636 points of heartbreak…one year of gun deaths in America and what you can do.

It’s hard to even conceive of what 33,636 deaths looks like… 

These blocks of guns, each little gun symbol representing a death, is for all us visual learners out there. This amazing depiction of what 33,636 gun deaths a year really looks like is brought to us thanks to Matt Maughey. (Scroll through it in one solid block here )

But change is happening.

full block

The public is truly done with “thoughts and prayers” as our only defense against urban warfare.

What happened in Vegas put the lie to NRA claims that good-people-with-guns in a crowd could always stop a shooting.

The NRA is grudgingly prepared to sacrifice bump stocks as truly the least they can do.

full block

We are at a tipping point…

Demand more. Make these 3+ calls.

Continue reading “33,636 points of heartbreak…one year of gun deaths in America and what you can do.”

Sanity-Saving good news – “Using your anger for good” – Edition

Good news in basic humanity.

Lin-Manuel’s advice works for everything, actually. This was a hard week where we wonder about our basic humanity. But then all this happens and, well, it helps a bit.

San Juan Mayor Carment Cruz does not back down.

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“This terrible and abominable view of him throwing paper towels and throwing provisions at people, it does not embody the spirit of the American nation.” San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz on 45’s trip to Puerto Rico

Racial slurs were shouted at a Nevada Union High School student in Grass Valley as he walked down Mill Street, according to his father on an amazing Facebook heart-to-heart to the white people in his community. Concerned local residents, including the police and the Nevada Union High principal, asked the community to do better and stand up to racism.  And this happened.

Continue reading “Sanity-Saving good news – “Using your anger for good” – Edition”

Gun violence is an American public health crisis. Vote YES to fund the CDC to research  gun violence and firearm safety for the next 5 years. (HR.1832 / S.834)

(Updated 10/5/17)

The NRA stopped the research we need to make us safer. 

In 1996, the Dickey Amendment was inserted into the omnibus spending bill that mandated that “none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”

A 2005 report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) assessed existing research on gun violence and gun policy, finding that considerable gaps exist in research and data to evaluate most gun violence prevention methods and that increased federal government funding was critical for further progress.

In 2013, Obama directed the CDC to restart research but spokesperson Courtney Lenard, told the Washington Post that “It is possible for us to conduct firearm-related research within the context of our efforts to address youth violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, and suicide. But our resources are very limited.” Despite an effort in 2015 to remove it, the Dickey amenment remains.

These bills that will fund $10 million for the (Centers for Disease Control) to research gun violence prevention and firearm safety for the next five years. 

H.R. 1832

Minimal Script for Reps. who support this: I’m calling from [zip code] to thank Rep. [___] for co-sponsoring H.R.1832. (You can also email your thanks!)

Minimal Script for Reps. who don’t yet: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Rep. [___] to vote YES on H.R.1832.

(Check your Congressperson here.  Brownley and Carbajal are already co-sponsors)

THANK Rep. Julia Brownley: (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779, https://juliabrownley.house.gov/contact/email-me

OR THANK Rep. Salud Carbajal: (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348, https://carbajal.house.gov/contact/email

Not your Rep.?http://www.phoneyourrep.com

S.834

Minimal Script for Senators who support this: I’m calling from [zip code] to thank  Sen [___] for co-sponsoring S.834.  (You can also email your thanks!)

Minimal Script for Senators who don’t yet: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask  Sen [___] to vote YES on S.834. 

(Check your Senator here.  Feinstein and Harris are already co-sponsors)

THANK Senator Feinstein: DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430 https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

AND THANK Senator Harris: DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884 https://www.harris.senate.gov/content/contact-senator

Not your Senator?http://www.phoneyourrep.com

More Info:

These and other concepts should be studied in great depth for efficacy in reducing gun violence. Continue reading “Gun violence is an American public health crisis. Vote YES to fund the CDC to research  gun violence and firearm safety for the next 5 years. (HR.1832 / S.834)”

S.H.A.R.E. is not what they taught you to do in school. “NO” on HR. 3668!

The SHARE Act was supposed to be about making it easier to hunt wildlife. The gun provisions inserted in the bill at the direction of the NRA to deregulate silencers and armor-piercing ammunition make it easier to hunt people,”  Rep. Raúl Grijalva, (D-AZ)

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] to urge Rep. [___] to vote against HR 3668, the SHARE Act.

More script if you want it: The deregulation of gun silencers is dangerous to public safety and security. We must not roll back sensible gun laws that provide a safer community for all.

Rep. Julia Brownley: (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779

Rep. Salud Carbajal: (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348

Other Rep Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

More Info: 

Here’s why this bill exists…Follow the money.

Opens up a huge new market, for both silencers and guns. Continue reading “S.H.A.R.E. is not what they taught you to do in school. “NO” on HR. 3668!”

Silencers = More Deaths. “NO” on the Share Act (HR 3668) – 9/28

Minimal Script: I am  calling from [zip code] to urge Rep. [___] to vote “NO” on the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act (HR 3668).

More script if you want it: This bill deregulates silencers and contains a host of other alarming provisions for weakening federal gun laws. Deregulating silencers is not about protecting sportsmen’s hearing; it’s about increasing profits for gun manufacturers and making us more unsafe.

Rep. Julia Brownley: (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779

Rep. Salud Carbajal: (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348

Other Rep Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

More Info:  Continue reading “Silencers = More Deaths. “NO” on the Share Act (HR 3668) – 9/28″