Open Letter to Congress
Dear Senator,
My name is Sabia Prescott and I’m writing to you because I’m alive and I can. I did not die in the shooting in Orlando this past month, or in any of the other countless mass shootings that have occurred since you’ve been in office. I therefore feel it is my responsibility to be part of the solution, part of the end to these horrific and preventable shootings. Since you are also alive and in a position to be an influential part of the solution, perhaps you’ll hear my plea.
The United States is the only country in the developed world without sensible gun laws and the only one that sees regular mass shootings. It is not by coincidence. It is because anyone can buy an assault-grade rifle very easily. It is because other countries have sensible gun laws in place and the U.S. does not. It is not because those who have been murdered, either in mass shootings or in homicide cases, did not have guns to defend themselves. Civilians should not have to carry assault weapons in order to feel safe in public. This idea is absurd. Arming 300 intoxicated people in a dark, crowded nightclub with semi-automatic firearms would not have resulted in fewer than 49 deaths.
If you still believe that citizens should carry guns to defend themselves, consider this: children in this country who are nine years old and younger believe that mass shootings are a regular and inevitable part of life. They have no choice but to think that if they go out in public spaces, there’s a chance that they will be murdered by a stranger with a gun. And you, by telling citizens to carry defense weapons, are telling these children that the answer to this violence is more violence.
Now surely the solution to this problem is less idealistic and more concrete. Perhaps you’re concerned about citizens’ Second Amendment right to bear arms, or that those looking to commit mass shootings will find a way to obtain guns whether it’s legal or not. Or perhaps you’re letting NRA funding keep you from helping people not get murdered. In any case, sensible gun laws are the answer. Anyone who is able and wanting to buy a gun can still do so with sensible gun laws in place. This is the reason that the word ‘sensible’ is used in this term. Having sensible gun laws in place will allow only those who are physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically able, to purchase a gun. To be certain, not every mass shooter in the U.S. has had a history of psychological distress. Nor has that been the sole reason for any mass shooting. However, it is, without deviation, an overwhelmingly strong trend in mass shooting cases. There need to be robust psychological and psychiatric background checks in place in order for gun laws to be effective. If a citizen fails to meet these standards, they should not be able to purchase a weapon capable of killing people. This is common sense. The vast majority of mass shootings that have occurred in recent years have been committed using a gun that was bought legally. The vast majority of mass shootings that have occurred in recent years have been committed by someone with a known history of mental illness.
If there are sensible gun laws in place, there is, of course, still a chance that a citizen could illegally obtain a gun and commit a mass shooting. Even with this chance, why not have gun laws in place? Those who are fit can still posses guns and those who are not will be far less likely to commit a shooting of this kind. There is no disadvantage to passing sensible gun laws.
The people committing these crimes are not immigrants. They are not Muslim and they are not representative of any one section of the global demographic. They are not in the abstract. The grief they cause is not in the abstract. I am not an anonymous person writing to you from Everytown, USA. I live and work four blocks from your office and my pain is not abstract. Do not sit idly in Congress and let your children and grandchildren think that it is okay to shoot people if you do not like something about them. Do not tell them to be more violent than others, show them how to prevent violence in the first place. Show them that violence is not the American way. Show them that solving and preventing the problem is the American way.
In June, 49 people were killed in an event that could have been prevented. These people could have been your children. You could just as easily be in Orlando mourning the loss of your son instead of in Washington reading my letter. If the slaughter of 49 innocent lives doesn’t motivate you to take action, then perhaps the slaughter of 475 will. In 2015, 475 innocent lives were taken during mass shootings. This is on your hands. If 294 mass shootings in one year doesn’t motivate you to affect change, then nothing will. This is it. This is the tipping point. As a fellow citizen, I urge you to let this be the tipping point. Do not let another mass shooting take place. Do not let the mournful and confused discourse that follows mass shootings continue to be routine. Neither wait to take action, nor prevent action from being taken by those working to stop this violence. Do not do nothing.
I’m writing to you because you are in a position to affect change and you have been each time a mass shooting has occurred. And yet it keeps occurring. My entire adult life has been characterized by mass shootings. People my age and those younger than me know this to be a regular part of life. Please open your mind to your peers in Congress. Work with them to make this not a regular part of our lives. Please work to pass sensible gun laws so the next generation of senators does not face this same challenge. So the next generation of U.S. citizens can die of old age. So the world sees our country as one which values our own lives over lobbyist money.
Do your job. Act now.
Sincerely,
Sabia Prescott