100 signatures reached
To: President Barack Obama
Ask President Obama to support the Do Not Stand Idly By Campaign
-Sign on to the Request for Information which asks gun manufacturers about their interest and ability to create safer distribution systems and safer gun technology
-Meet with our colleagues to discuss the other meaningful executive action you can take in this powerful market-based approach.
Why is this important?
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC
Dear President Obama:
In December 2012, in the days after the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, you told the people of Newtown that you would use “whatever power this office holds” to prevent such tragedies in the future. We are writing, more than two years later, to ask you to make good on that promise.
We are religious leaders from a variety of faith traditions and communities who, while we do not agree on everything with respect to the role of firearms in American life, do agree on the following:
• Many of the more than 30,000 annual deaths due to gun violence in America are preventable.
• Solutions will not come from Congress.
• Gun manufacturers have the ability to take actions that will reduce the number of lives lost and damaged by shootings and other gun-related crimes.
• The public sector has enough market power to move the manufacturers to act – collectively it purchases 40% of the guns and ammunition in America – but it fails to use this power. Public-sector gun buyers need their own assertive voice in the firearms marketplace, focused on their core interest: SAFETY.
• As the most powerful public-sector leader in the United States, you are positioned to lead an effort to create that voice and use it to achieve progress in gun safety.
That effort is already emerging, through Do Not Stand Idly By – a nationwide campaign initiated by the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation. Mayors, police chiefs, sheriffs, governors and county executives from 70 jurisdictions across America have submitted a Request for Information to leading gun manufacturers, seeking information on the manufacturers’ performance in the area of safety technologies and distribution systems. We applaud these actions and hope they represent the start of a productive conversation about safety with leaders in the industry.
We ask that you add your name to the Request for Information. Further, we ask that you meet with the leadership of DNSIB to explore how you can use the powers of your office to encourage life-saving innovation and improvement – a “race to the top” – in the gun industry.