1 of 19) GUN THREAD!

Republicans like @SenTedCruz are spewing disinformation that Democrats are seeking bans & #guncontrol legislation that will "do nothing" to save lives

This #GunOwnerForGunReform reviews US gun laws & exposes Republicans for yet another "Big Lie"

#HR8 #NoRA

2) No law can stop all crime. What laws do (like laws against running red lights) is give law enforcement a way to deter, enforce, and prosecute.

More Americans have died by gun since 1968 than ALL US Wars combined. Here are a few ideas to save lives.

#HR8 #GunOwnerForGunReform

3) Background checks have stopped nearly TWO MILLION prohibited persons from buying guns, but BGCs are only required by licensed dealers. NICS data sharing is voluntary & exemptions for private sales across 38 states make BGC's easy to circumvent.

#HR8 #GunOwnerForGunReform

4) Federal law only requires background checks for purchases made at Federally Licensed dealers. Private sales and transfers are exempted. 38 states don't require background checks for all gun sales. This is madness. PASS #HR8 & close this #GunShowLoophole

#GunOwnerForGunReform

5) In the 38 states without universal background checks, private sellers have no idea if the buyer is a felon, terrorist, or other prohibited category.

Watch Al Qaeda point out how easy it is to get a gun:
#GunShowLoophole

#GunOwnerForGunReform #HR8

6) The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is flawed. Data sharing is voluntary & little mental health data is included. If FBI doesn't complete check in 3 days, the sale is made. This #CharlestonLoophole allowed Dylann Roof to get his gun and murder 9 people

7) Run background checks on ammunition purchases (like pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) which is tightly controlled). If a gun is stolen or transferred without a background check, this can prevent ammunition getting into the hands of a prohibited person.

#HR8 #GunOwnerForGunReform

8) NRA-beholden Republicans fighting Universal Background Checks only mention "mental health" after each mass shooting to deflect from the issue of easy access. Did you know Trump & GOP revoked Obama-era gun checks for people with mental illnesses?

#HR8 #GunOwnerForGunReform

9) More toddlers kill Americans than foreign terrorists. Children access guns, pull triggers & kill parents, siblings, or themselves. Yet only 3 states have Child Access Prevention laws to allow charges where a minor "is likely to" gain access to guns. 22 states have no CAP laws!

10) Guns are 3rd leading cause of death for children in US. Children access guns, pull the trigger & kill parents, siblings, or themselves. These aren't accidents. Manufacturers aren't required to add manual safeties to prevent a child from pulling trigger

11) 22 states have no Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws. Those that do are watered down & parents rarely held accountable. The Santa Fe shooter used his dad’s gun to kill. But he was 17-yo and Texas didn’t consider him a minor, so dad wasn’t prosecuted.

12) Think of the many products, from planes and cars to cribs, that used tragedies to improve safety through better design. Gun manufacturers were exempted from the 1972 Consumer Product Safety Act and lawsuits are usually futile. #GunOwnerForGunReform

13) Ban high capacity magazines. The Texas church shooter used a Ruger AR-556. Here it is in action with a $99.00 bump stock which are now banned, but with over 500,000 sold, hundreds of thousands remain in circulation.

#HR8 #GunOwnerForGunReform

14) Straw purchases (buying a gun for someone else and circumventing the background check system) are illegal. The NRA fought to overturn this ban and barely lost in the Supreme Court 5-4. The law was used to prosecute the man who bought guns for the San Bernardino terrorists.

15A) The term "assault weapon" needs definition. It's MORE than just a military style. Ohio defined them as a semi-automatic firearm capable of accepting a detachable or fixed magazine with the capacity to accept ten or more cartridges.

What is an AR?

#HR8 #GunOwnerForGunReform

15B) "AR" stands for ArmaLite who first developed the AR-15 in 1947 as a military rifle. It sold patent to Colt who developed it into the M16 and later ramped up production of a semiautomatic version for law enforcement marketed as the AR-15. It was designed to kill PEOPLE!

15C) NRA bragged about blocking Boulder's AR-15 ban a WEEK BEFORE the mass shooting. A judge blocked enforcement of its two-year-old assault rifle ban on March 12, ruling it violated a 2003 state law prohibiting municipalities from enacting their own firearms regulations.

#HR8

16) Federal law provides no minimum age for the possession of long guns or long gun ammunition. Further, unlicensed persons may sell or transfer a long gun or long gun ammunition to a person of any age. BTW, gun shot is now the third leading cause of death in American children.

17) #GunControl is NOT unconstitutional! “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” It is “not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever & for whatever purpose” Justice Antonin Scalia

#HR8 #GunOwnersForGunReform

18) Stop locking people up for drug offenses and pass #UniversalBackgroundChecks and re-allocate resources to let police prioritize the prosecution of illegal gun possession / sales and trafficking.

Republicans neutered ATF!

#GunOwnerForGunReform #HR8 https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/atf-obama-gun-reform-control-alcohol-tobacco-firearms/

19) Finally, get to know gun laws and become #ArmedWithReason to fight trolls. More Americans have been killed by gun since 1968 than in ALL U.S. wars combined! We need you.

Deaths in all US Wars: 1,264,000
Gun Deaths 1968-2015: 1,516,863

#GunOwnerForGunReform #HR8