May 24, 2022

This date is burned in my memory. {NAME} – The Democratic gubernatorial primary was one year ago today.  It was the day I became the Democratic nominee for governor – the first Black Arkansan to ever garner a major party nomination for the state’s executive office.  But that day, as are too many days to count in America, was also marred by an intolerable act of gun violence that is seared in our collective memory.  While Arkansans were lining up at the polls last May 24th, 675 miles away a gunman entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. By the time the day was done, 19 beautiful children and two of their teachers were taken from us. Another 18 were injured, and a community was forever changed.  In a nation where school shootings have become so commonplace they sometimes don’t even register on the news; where our children rehearse for active shooters with lockdown drills; where teachers and all school staff have to try and foster a healthy learning environment under the constant specter of mass shootings; where gun violence takes nearly 50,000 souls from us every year – even in this nation, Uvalde stands out.  Uvalde was a watershed moment. The worst school shooting since Sandy Hook a decade earlier. And it led to the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first new gun legislation to pass Congress in 30 years.  And yet, every single member of Congress from Arkansas voted AGAINST that bill.  According to Everytown for Gun Safety, guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens in Arkansas. In 2021, the latest year for which full statistics are available, the U.S. reached its highest number of gun deaths in more than 40 years – over 48,000 souls.  And in data captured by the Gun Violence Archive, there have already been more mass shootings than days in 2023.  While we often talk about the deaths caused by firearms, too little attention is given to the survivors of gun violence – those who were injured, those who were present during a shooting, those left behind and all of us who live with the threat of gun violence hanging over our heads.  The toll on our nation is incalculable, and our political leaders have done too little to change it. In the case of our four representatives from Arkansas, they have done nothing to change it.  So yes, we hold the families of Uvalde in our hearts today. But that is not enough. We owe them action. We owe our kids a childhood free of violence and full of promise.  Today I am asking you to honor the families of Uvalde with a personal commitment to ending our national gun violence epidemic. Vote, volunteer, and organize for candidates committed to gun reform. Donate to an organization dedicated to ending gun violence (one recommendation is [Sandy Hook Promise]().  Don’t just send your thoughts and prayers today. Set your compassion and your heartbreak in motion.  We are not consigned to a future of ever-increasing gun violence. We have the power to change this – and together, we will.  In service,  Dr. Chris Jones         Vortex PAC is a new grassroots movement to transform Arkansas politics away from the far-right. We are recruiting, training, and supporting Democratic candidates to flip all four of Arkansas’ U.S. congressional districts and help win back the House majority in 2024. [DONATE >>]( Paid for by Vortex PAC  ©2023 Vortex PAC, all rights reserved  Our mailing address is: Vortex PAC PO Box 1141 Springdale, AR 72765 We're sad to see you go, but if you believe you received this email in error, or you no longer wish to receive our emails you can unsubscribe using the link below: [Click here to unsubscribe.]( Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Vortex PAC, please [click here](.