Chop Wood, Carry Water 4/11

Huge progress on gun violence.

Hi, all, and happy Thursday,

We just got an announcement from the White House that is worth celebrating! The Biden administration has issued a new rule to eliminate a loophole that has allowed sales of guns without background checks outside of brick-and-mortar stores.

To quote Politico:

The rule…requires that anyone who sells guns for profit to have a license and that buyers be subject to a background check, including at firearms shows and flea markets. The administration had been working on the rule since last spring. Once publicized, it will take effect in 30 days.

The so-called gun show loophole has for years allowed unlicensed gun dealers to sell firearms without background checks at gun shows, on the internet and out of their homes. The new rule, the most sweeping expansion of firearms background checks in decades, will apply to more than 20,000 individuals engaged in unlicensed gun dealing and affect “tens and tens of thousands of gun sales” each year, an administration official told reporters during a call previewing the announcement.

Firearms obtained using this loophole have historically made up a good part of the guns used in crimes and high profile shootings. The Columbine shooting, for example, was carried out with weapons purchased through the gun-show loophole. This loophole was also exploited in the 2019 shooting in Midland and Odessa, Texas, where a man killed seven people and wounded dozens of others. To quote Politico again:

A background check stopped the shooter from purchasing a gun at a sporting goods store in 2014, but he later purchased an AR-15 from an unlicensed seller he met online.

This new rule, then, is a huge deal. It will save lives. It will reduce crime. It will make life immeasurably safer, less frightening, and, therefore, better for all Americans.

It is moments like this when I am doubly proud to have worked to elect Joe Biden. He is doing so much tangible good. It’s stunning. Is he perfect? No. But he’s a very good President, and I’m grateful for the progress he’s making on issues like this that impact all of us so much.

Remember, your hard work helped bring this all about. Just imagine what it can bring about next!

One more thing: a reader commented yesterday that they were afraid to call their representatives because they worried that they might have to talk to the lawmaker him or herself, or that staffers, if that was who they spoke to instead, would grill or argue with them about their comments.

I’m sure there are others with the same question, so I want to answer it here:

First, you will never talk to the lawmaker when you call his or her office. Ever. They 100% do not answer their own phones. You’ll be lucky to even get a person—I almost always leave a voicemail.

Second, in the countless phone calls I’ve made to my representatives I’ve never once received any questions, pushback, or argument from a staffer. At most I’m asked to repeat a bill number. The folks answering the phones are generally interns, and they’re there simply to record what you say, not challenge it.

Finally, if you’re really scared to talk to a live person, call after hours! These offices all have voicemail. As long as you leave your full name and zip code your call will count exactly the same!

Hope this helps. Now let’s get to work!

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

I’m calling to urge the Representative to sign Rep. McGovern’s discharge petition so aid for Ukraine can be voted on in the House. The majority of Americans and members of Congress support Ukraine and think this bill deserves an up-or-down vote. Please make Ukraine funding a top priority.

Also, I understand Republicans in the US House have introduced H.R. 5499 the Congressional Oversight of the Antiquities Act. This bill is a backdoor effort to exploit our nation’s most precious landscapes and cultural resources for profit. No way. I want the Congressmember to oppose it and protect the Antiquities Act at all costs! Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Interested in the courts?

Please read and share Alliance For Justice’s annual report, State of Justice 2024: State Supreme Courts and the Future of Democracy.

The report reviews Wisconsin and Pennsylvania’s record-setting 2023 supreme court elections, details the current composition of state supreme courts in all fifty states, and previews this year’s 82 state supreme court elections taking place across 33 states. The report also highlights important recent state supreme court cases. Our state courts hear the vast majority of the nation’s court cases, and their importance and power will only continue to grow. The report details the impact of state judiciaries on the full spectrum of our fundamental rights.

Read it here.

Get Smart! 📚

This is late notice, but please join the first Blue Tennessee Virtual Members Meeting TODAY, Thursday, April 11 at 7:30EDT.

Their guests will be Gabe Rutan-Ram, Executive Director of ChangeTN (a progressive PAC based in Knoxville), David Thomforde, candidate for House District 23 (Monroe County), Allison Gorman, candidate for House District 26 (Hamilton County), and Brian Robertson, candidate for House District 44 (Sumner County). This meeting is not a campaign or fundraising event. This is an opportunity to get to know candidates from around the state and what is motivating them to run.

Please register by clicking HERE.

Spread the Word! 📣

Wow! The always awesome Americans For Tax Fairness has put together a phenomenal “Tax Day Toolkit” to help you share the differences between Biden and Trump on tax policy. There are excellent graphics, suggested text, and loads of graphs and charts. They’re asking us to help spread the word as tax day approaches.

Win Races! 🗳

In light of this week’s news I’ve had lots of folks ask how they can help us win in Arizona. Here you go!

• Activate America has loads of postcarding into AZ. Sign up here. (You’ll need to provide your own postcards. I buy mine on Etsy.

• Activate America does phonebanking into AZ three times a week. Sign up here.

• The Chop Wood, Carry Statehouses Giving Circle is raising money for the Arizona and PA statehouse races, so if you give to it you’ll be helping to ensure that we flip the Arizona statehouse AND win statewide. I’m trying to raise 100K, of which 50K will go to Arizona. Give here.

• Northeast Arizona Native Democrats is writing to continue registering and engaging High Potential Native Democratic voters in Northeast Arizona. Get addresses here. This is a Mobilize link, but there is no actual meeting for this project. You will receive a list of 25 addresses via email on the Friday you choose. Use your own postcards.

• NOPE has Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego, running for the US Senate, and Melissa Morales, president of the AZ-based Somos Votantes, joining them for their May 14 meeting. You’ll learn all about how to help win in AZ there. MEETING SIGN-UP

• Finally, Sister District Yolo is leading multiple canvasses in AZ in May, September, and November. SIGN UP HERE.

If you want to be notified when I get more AZ-related opportunities, be sure to sign up for my Chop Wood, Carry AZ newsletter here. It doesn’t come out often, but when it does it’s got extra ways to help.

Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻

[To: all three reps] [H/T Coalition on Human Needs] [Text SIGN PJXULY to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]

I’m a concerned constituent writing to urge you to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program or ACP. Digital connectivity is a basic necessity in our modern world and the internet must be treated as a public utility. We use the internet to apply for jobs, perform our jobs, receive telehealth medical treatment, and pay bills, and students use it to complete homework assignments. But for millions of people in rural and urban areas, and Tribal communities, the internet is a luxury they cannot afford. Failure by Congress to fund this program will force millions of households already on tight budgets to choose between being able to stay online or potentially losing access to this essential service.

If Congress doesn’t act fast, funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program will run out and more than 22 million Americans -- 1 in 6 households -- will lose this vital service.

The implications of this will be devastating. In 2019, 18% of Native people living on Tribal land had no internet access; 33% relied on cell phone service for the internet; and 39% had spotty or no connection to the internet at home on their smart phone. The ACP has enrolled 320,000 households on Tribal lands -- important progress. The largest percentage gains in broadband access are in rural areas. Nearly half of military families are enrolled in ACP, as are one in four African American and Latino households. Losing access and training on using computers and the internet will have devastating impacts on all these communities as technology becomes increasingly integral to work, education, health, and our everyday lives. Without moves to address tech inequality, low-income communities and communities of color are heading towards an “unemployment abyss.”

The Affordable Connectivity Program has broad bipartisan support because it is working. As your constituent, I am urging you to push for renewed funding for the ACP before it runs out in the coming weeks.

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OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.

Talk soon.

Jess