Chop Wood, Carry Water 5/27

Hi, all, and happy Friday.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired. This week has been…a lot. I have quite a bit of phonebanking and canvassing to do this weekend, too, but I do recognize—as I hope you do as well—that some rest and downtime is REALLY important. So I will commit to getting some if you will.

As for the below calls, I know some of them may feel repetitive. But remember that Congressional offices don’t tally how many times any one individual calls about something; they simply tally how many calls they get each day on a particular subject. So we want to add to their tally marks every single day right now. The moment is ripe for change. We won’t get it if we don’t push like hell.

So push we will.

Then we will nap.

I am sending an infinite amount of love and care for you, my indefatigable readers. I know how hard you’re working. I know how good your hearts are. I know how much those hearts hurt right now.

I also know we can make this better. It may not be instant, and it won’t stop every bad thing, but our work, our efforts, our calls, our actions WILL improve things measurably. So let’s get to work, knowing this’ll take time, and sweat, and persistence…

But that every life saved will be a precious universe preserved.

So worth it.

Call Your Senators (find yours here)

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

[If Democrat except for Joe Manchin] I want the Senator to strongly support and vote to pass H.R. 8 – the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, and H.R.1446 – the Enhanced Background Checks Act, bills that the overwhelming majority of Americans from both parties approve of. I am VERY frustrated that Congress went on recess before these were voted on. We are a grieving, angry, terrified nation. Come back and do something now. Thanks.

[If Republican or Joe Manchin] I want the Senator to strongly support and vote to pass H.R. 8 – the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, and H.R.1446 – the Enhanced Background Checks Act, bills that the overwhelming majority of Americans from both parties approve of. Tell the senator that if they actually care about their constituents more than they do about personal power they will do this. If they don’t they should resign before we vote them out. Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here)

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

I want the Congressmember to fight to pass HR 748 Ethans Law. We know that safe firearm storage laws go a long way towards saving children’s lives in this country. Please get it done. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

This is easy. Commit to marching on June 11th. March For Our Lives is Organizing marches against gun violence (and Congress’s inaction) everywhere. Yes, it matters. Please do it if you possibly can.

Get Smart! 📚

Today at 1PM PT / 4 PM ET I’ll be hosting a discussion at the Jane Club about what we can do about gun sense legislation in this very important moment.

I’ll review how to call our representatives to demand action and also how to work to change the representatives we have. I’ll also review ways to plug into the ever-growing Gun Violence Prevention Network and how to stay sane – and motivated – in periods of incredible political and emotional turmoil. Open to all! Please join us! RSVP here.

Win Races! 🗳

Y’all, Jessica Cisneros is 175 votes behind Henry Cuellar, but they are still counting mail-in ballots and there are many ballots that need to be cured. Sunrise has scheduled a bunch of phonebanks over the next four days to call voters who supported Jess but may not have had their vote counted due to errors on their mail-in ballot. This work could very well win us the election. Can you sign up for a shift? It will be easy, and the satisfaction we’ll take from ousting an A+ from the NRA Democrat will be beyond description.

Sign up for a shift here.

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

[to all 3 reps] [H/T] [Quick send text SIGN PUBMIR to 50409]

The recent shooting in Uvalde, Texas is the 213th mass shooting in our nation this year. We cannot sit idly by while gun violence continues to harm our communities, and as your constituent, I’m writing to demand you do something about it.

The following recommendations are proven strategies to mitigate gun violence:

Disarming all domestic abusers

Creating, developing, and supporting violence prevention and intervention programs

Requiring background checks for all gun sales

Encouraging the CDC to research Gun Violence as a Public Health Crisis

Banning Assault Weapons and High capacity Ammunition Magazines

I’m urging you not to wait any longer to mitigate gun violence. In fact I’m livid that y’all have gone on recess. I will be watching how you act on this issue, please don’t let our country down. Get to work; change the story. Thanks.

---

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

Talk tomorrow.

Jess