Tell your Senators: Ban assault weapons

Enough is enough. Help prevent another mass school shooting. [View in Browser]( Content warning: This email contains references to gun violence and specifically the school shooting in Uvalde, not far from my city — Round Rock, TX. Safe communities are a human right. [TELL CONGRESS: PASS THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN]( [Act Now]( {NAME}, today is the first day of school at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX. It should be a beautiful day: friends seeing each other for the first time after a long summer. Little ones shouting as they run through the schoolyard. Students greeting the teachers who will help shape their lives. But something will be missing today. Nineteen backpacks won't line the sides of classrooms. Nineteen bright smiles won't make their way to recess. And two teachers won't stand in front of their classrooms, ready to take attendance and start the year anew. It didn’t have to be this way. If the U.S. government had done something after Sandy Hook, Stoneman Douglas, and hundreds of other mass shootings… maybe today would be different. The Uvalde shooting has rocked communities all across Texas, and my own in Round Rock. But right now, you have a chance to [do something]( so that, maybe, what happened in Uvalde will never happen again. The shooter at Robb Elementary School used an AR-15-style assault rifle. These military-grade weapons are designed to kill and maim as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Weapons like these pose a clear threat to human rights, including the rights to life and security. Despite clear dangers, there are no federal laws regulating assault weapons and accessories. [We have an opportunity to change that. The Senate is voting soon on the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022, and your two senators need to hear from you first.]( [{NAME}, will you take two minutes to email your senators and urge them to ban semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines?]( [Children should be safe in schools]( I’m a senior in high school and have been involved with Amnesty for two years and am currently a Student Activist Coordinator. I know that Amnesty International has meticulously analyzed the human rights impact of the gun violence crisis in the U.S. — and the ways that our lives have been compromised by unfettered access to guns. Amnesty campaigners meet regularly with lawmakers to make policy recommendations — and their research has been used to draft new legislation in several states and nationally. Now, the U.S. needs to honor its obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights in accordance with international law, by banning assault rifles and accessories. [If passed, the Assault Weapons Ban would save thousands of lives and help protect human rights at home. Please tell your senators to vote YES on this crucial legislation.]( Thank you for taking action to defend our right to live free from gun violence. Sincerely, Shreya A. Student Activist Coordinator Amnesty International USA P.S. The right to live free from violence and discrimination is being eviscerated by the desire to own deadly weapons, no matter the cost. We must ban assault weapons once and for all — [take action now.]( [DONATE NOW]( © 2022 Amnesty International USA 311 W 43rd Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10036 | 1-800-AMNESTY Please don't reply to this email. You can send questions to aimember@aiusa.org. We’re so happy you’re here to hear about the most important updates on human rights! If necessary, you can [opt to receive fewer emails]( or [unsubscribe here](. [supporter]