Call and email your U.S. Representatives and Senators. Make it personal – share how this impacts you and why it matters to you.
Find your Representatives and Senators:
Dear [Senator or Representative],
My name is [your name] and I am [calling/writing to you] as a [premedical/medical student or physician] and a member of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). I am [calling/writing] to ask that you recognize gun violence as a public health epidemic and take immediate action to prevent the plague of gun deaths that has become our national reality. I feel particularly compelled to speak following the horrific events of February 14, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. While mass shootings gain the attention of the media, shootings of individual victims occur every day in every part of this country. Between homicides and suicides, gun violence claims the lives of over 38,000 Americans a year.
As a [future physician/physician/surgeon], I recognize that gun violence is an urgent public health issue, requiring effective, evidence-based, and common-sense solutions. Federal scientific data has driven policy to save lives from motor vehicle collisions, sudden infant death syndrome, lead poisoning, and countless other public health crises. It is time to do the same with gun violence.
I am deeply committed to the safety and health of my [future] patients, colleagues, and communities. Therefore, I am asking Congress to take the following actions to prevent gun violence:
- Declare gun violence a public health epidemic
- Allocate federal funding for research into gun violence and prevention strategies at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as part of the FY 2019 omnibus spending package
- Require universal background checks on all gun sales, including guns sold at gun shows
- Establish constitutionally appropriate restrictions on the manufacturing and civilian sales of large-capacity magazines and firearms with features designed to increase their rapid and extended killing capacity
I believe that the actions outlined above will help to provide the protection our communities desperately need while supporting critical research into how best to curb this public health epidemic. I believe that you share my commitment to protecting the safety of our communities, families, and children. I believe that the actions outlined above will help to provide the protection our communities desperately need while supporting critical research into how best to address this public health epidemic. I urge you to commit to protecting our communities by taking immediate and concrete action on gun violence.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
