BREAKING: Senate rejects background checks for gun sales

Senate Republicans have failed every victim of gun violence and their families.

Dear MoveOn member,

Senate Republicans have failed the victims of the Orlando massacre.

Just a few minutes ago, all but one Senate Republican (and three Democrats) voted no on requiring background checks on all gun sales. Through their refusal to act and their blind obedience to the NRA, they’ve made Congress absolutely complicit in the rampant epidemic of gun violence in this country.

After the massacre at Pulse, the gay nightclub in Orlando, many people offered “thoughts and prayers” for the mostly LGBTQ, mostly young, mostly Puerto Rican victims. Plenty of our leaders tweeted about their shock and their horror. But others were fed up with empty words from the very people who have the most power to prevent this from ever happening again. Among them was Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut, who said “Enough!” and held the Senate floor until Republicans were forced to call a vote tonight.

It’s clear that we cannot trust the Republicans in Congress to act in the best interests of the American people. So it’s time we commit to electing leaders who will.

Will you contribute $3 to Senator Chris Murphy and MoveOn? Your donation to Sen. Murphy will help show that lawmakers who will stand up for what is right have a broad base of support—and your donation to MoveOn will help defeat lawmakers who cash checks from the gun lobby to do nothing.

We need every gun purchase in this country to be accompanied by a thorough criminal background check. And we also need to pass a ban on assault weapons—weapons created for the express purpose of killing a lot of people as quickly as possible—to keep these weapons of war off of our streets and out of our communities.

Republicans in the Senate just told you that as long as they’re in power, there’s no way any of that will happen. If they can sleep at night knowing what that means (knowing that more lives will be lost because they refused to act)—well, that’s their prerogative. Here’s ours: electing leaders who will take concrete steps to protect the American people from gun violence.

Chip in $3 to help Chris Murphy and MoveOn keep fighting this battle. In honor of those we have lost, we will not give up until we change our laws to stop these tragedies from repeating themselves.

Thanks for all you do,

—Jo, Manny, Emily, Matt, and the rest of the team

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