LETTERS

Need to strengthen gun laws even more

Posted 4/5/23

To the Editor,

As a gun safety advocate and volunteer leader with Moms Demand Action, I am grateful for the work done in the RI legislature over the years to pass gun sense laws in our state. …

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LETTERS

Need to strengthen gun laws even more

Posted

To the Editor,

As a gun safety advocate and volunteer leader with Moms Demand Action, I am grateful for the work done in the RI legislature over the years to pass gun sense laws in our state. Research shows that states with stronger gun laws have lower levels of gun violence, so we need to be doing all we can to strengthen our laws to make our state as safe as possible from this preventable epidemic. This is not a natural disaster, it's a result of lawmakers putting the profits of the gun industry above public safety. And more and more our children are paying the price. Gun violence is now the #1 killer of children and teens in America. Is this the world we want to live in?

I have heard lawmakers in our state argue that Rhode Island already has lower levels of gun violence so we don't need to do anything else (even though this week alone in our state there were ghost gun arrests in North Smithfield and Pawtucket, a PC basketball player charged with threatening his girlfriend with a gun and a 13-year-old caught in gun crossfire in broad daylight in Woonsocket) but I don't accept this argument. One death is too many.

Thankfully my state lawmakers - Senator Josh Miller and Representative Joe McNamara - also believe in gun safety. This session they join me in supporting two pieces of key gun sense legislation that will undoubtedly save lives - a secure storage bill (H 5434/S 321) - important because 2/3's of gun deaths in Rhode Island are gun suicides and we know access to a firearm triples the risk of death by suicide  - and an assault weapns ban (H5300/S 379) - something over 70% of Rhode Islanders support and already in place in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In the wake of the Memphis massacre of six human beings (including three nine-year-olds), this is weighing on the hearts and minds of many of us. And I must add it's not mental illness - all other developed countries have the same levels of mental illness - what they don't have is easy access to guns. In fact, those with mental illness are more likely to be victims of crimes, not perpetrators.

We need as many people as possible in the fight to end gun violence. I encourage my neighbors and friends to reach out to their state Representatives and Senators in support of this legislation. Rhode Islanders can find legislator names and contact info at vote.sos.ri.gov.

Our children, neighbors and all of our loved ones deserve better. They deserve to live lives free from gun violence.


Melissa Carden

Cranston

letter, letters

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