How to Be an Armchair Activist (in just 5 minutes a week)

I know you’re overwhelmed. Bad news is screaming at you every time you turn on the TV or radio. The gun violence stories are frightening and they make you sad… You’ve got a job, and worries, and kids or pets or older parents to take care of and you’re thinking…I feel terrible about what happened at Newtown but what can I do? I’m just one person. I can’t fix the world.

But you can do one small thing. A lot of people each doing one small thing is what moves the world. I have broken it down and made it simple for you. From the comfort of your home, in your pajamas, or even from your phone while you’re riding on a subway, you can do one small thing. Yes, you!

The NRA expects you to forget about Newtown. An NRA lobbyist said they were waiting for the “Connecticut effect” to wear off so they could continue pushing their agenda for looser gun laws. The NRA has millions in donations from gun manufacturers. They employ lobbyists to badger congress every day. Our elected officials are worn down and losing their courage. I hear this from politicians all the time, “We need to hear from the people.” That’s where YOU come in. YOU- the armchair activist.

GOT 10 MINUTES? WRITE A SHORT, SIMPLE LETTER: Our elected officials are hearing only from the NRA when they need to hear from YOU. If you wrote one letter, you would be doing more than most Americans. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. This letter is not going to your 10^th grade English teacher so don’t be intimidated. All they want to know is that you care. Three simple sentences will do. Do you want background checks for all gun purchases? Tougher punishment for illegal gun sales? Say so.

Need your Senators name and address? It’s right here: WHO IS MY SENATOR AND HOW DO I CONTACT THEM? 

An actual snail-mail letter is best, but if you don’t have a stamp, an email will do.

GOT 5 MINUTES? EMAIL:  Click here to send an instant email to your Senators: FAST EMAIL TO CONGRESS

It’s all written out for you. You don’t even have to think about what to write. However, it is more effective if you change the wording and make it your own. This should take you a minute or two, that’s it.

GOT 2 MINUTES? CALL : Call the Senate switchboard (202) 224-3121. Ask for your senators’ offices and if you don’t know what to say, just say this:

I support Universal Background Checks for all gun sales. Please record my views so that the Senator knows I vote and I care. Thank you.

Here is a quick video showing how one mom made a call to congress in less than a minute, while her toddler napped.

GOT LESS THAN 1 MINUTE? TWITTER:

Click this link to fast-tweet congress. The tweets are pre-written for you (but it’s better if you customize them). This action literally takes a few seconds. Honestly, who doesn’t have a few seconds?

FAST TWEET CONGRESS IN 10 SECONDS

GOT 30 SECONDS? SIGN UP TO BE A GUNSENSE VOTER: If Congress won't take action, we've got to vote out the bad apples, and vote in the ones who will protect our children. By signing up to be a gunsense voter, you will be kept up to date on who's running for office and how they rate on gun legislation issues.   http://every.tw/gsv

 
If you can take one small action even once a week, you will be more active and patriotic than the majority of American citizens.

So did you do it? Congratulations- You are an armchair activist!

Now doesn’t that make you feel kinda great?

FACTS: Guns in America

FACTS:

FACT: There are more than 58,000 gunshops in this country. There are fewer than 20,000 Starbucks in the whole world. - Kai Rysdall, NPR 

FACT: The United States has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world — an average of 88 per 100 people. 60 percent of U.S. homicides occur using a firearm. Washington Post

FACT: The gun-homicide rate per capita in the U.S. is 30 times that of Britain and Australia, 10 times that of India and four times that of Switzerland.

- TIME

 

FACT: With only 5% of the world’s population, America owns nearly 50% of the world’s guns.

FACT: Last year on Black Friday, over 280,000 guns were purchased. (Merry Christmas)

- CBS Sunday Morning

FACT: On the same day as the Sandy Hook mass murder, a deranged man in China went on a rampage and attacked 22 schoolchildren with a knife. There were ZERO FATALITIES. 

- CNN 

MOST IMPORTANT FACT:

FACT: Firearm deaths are significantly lower in states with stricter gun control legislation. 

– Washington Post

 

ISSUES

MEDIA:  Yes, the media is a problem. Like our politicians, they are owned by corporations greedily chasing after the mighty buck, putting ratings before journalism with integrity. But did the media kill 26 people on Friday? No. Is there any reason to suspect this shooter was doing this for media attention? No.

Next issue.

MENTAL ILLNESS: Only half of the mass killings reported worldwide involved a person with mental illness. Yes, mental illness is a problem, but it has existed since the beginning of time. No psychiatrist or neurologist knows exactly why it happens, how to stop it nor how to effectively treat it. We understand very little about the human brain. Very little. We need to do better, and when we know how, we will. But right now we can’t stop people from being crazy. And as for the talk of Aspergers- that is not a mental illness. Aspergers has produced some of the world’s greatest thinkers, inventors and artists. I know many young people with Aspergers – they are smart, funny and kind.

Next issue.

SECOND AMENDMENT: Let’s talk about the second amendment. It was created during a time of horses and bayonettes. Nobody could have imagined a semi-automatic the likes of the Bushman, its bullets found in the bodies of the children who were massacred. The second amendment does not entitle citizens to weapons of mass destruction.

ASSAULT WEAPONS: If you feel you need a pistol for self-protection, okay. If you are a hunter and need your hunting rifles, okay. No civilian needs an assault weapon. PERIOD. And if you really think you need one, well then, that’s the exact reason you shouldn’t have one. 

Sign the White House petition for tighter gun control legislation: WHITE HOUSE

Click here to read my blog on how my family was shattered by gun violence : A Single Bullet

Who's Afraid of Gun Control?

Fact:

Every day in America, thirty-three people are murdered with guns.

In Japan (where there are gun control laws) there were seven gun-related deaths in 2010. Seven. In a YEAR.

Here’s a quip floating around on bumper stickers (and facebook), “Guns don’t’ kill people. People kill people.” 

Here’s a new bumper sticker: people with assault weapons mass murder people. No one stands a chance against a maniac with an assault rifle.

I have two thoughts on this whole thing. First of all, reinstate the ban on assault weapons. Why should it be legal in this country for citizens to out-gun the police? Doesn’t make any kind of sense.

Second, and this is a very simple thing- make it as difficult to get a weapon as it is to get a drivers license. A person who intends to buy a gun should have to take a course in gun safety, then take a test. If they don’t pass, just as we don’t get a license, they don’t get the gun. And as we have our eyes tested, they should have their sanity tested, and a doctors note stating that they are of sound mind wouldn’t hurt. They should then have their fingerprints registered and their picture taken, height, weight, color of eyes all on record, to obtain a gun license.

Nobody screams “socialism” about our process to obtain drivers licenses, or contracter’s licenses, or scuba certification or anything else, so is this really such an outrageous idea? No one is lobbying congress over standing in line at the DMV.

We’ve let the NRA run rampant with freedom for far too long, and look where it's gotten us. We need to stand up and make our voices heard, so that our children can safely go to the movies, or go to meet a congresswoman without fear of being gunned down.

To sign the petition to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, click here.