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MoveOn Gun Owners, American Coalition for Responsible Gun Ownership Respond to San Bernardino Shooting

The following statement represents the views of gun-owning MoveOn.org members who recently traveled to Washington, DC to urge elected officials to address the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. MoveOn launched Gun Owners for Gun Control after the mass shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College; the group now includes more than 32,000 gun owners. MoveOn and the American Coalition for Responsible Gun Ownership are working together to engage responsible gun owners in campaigns to pass common-sense gun safety legislation.

“In the wake of another mass shooting, we as responsible gun owners working for sensible and effective gun safety laws call on President Obama to act where Congress will not. The president and Congress have a moral imperative to act now to prevent more tragedies.

“While the full toll of today’s events is not yet known, it is already clear this tragic shooting in San Bernardino is the deadliest single shooting in the U.S. since Sandy Hook. Enough is enough. It’s painfully clear that each day we wait to tighten our gun laws and enact common-sense reforms, more and more people are falling victim to the epidemic of gun violence. 

“We are ready to rally by the president’s side if he uses his executive authority to close the background check loophole, as we’ve urged him to do. And we’ll stand behind any elected official who renounces the dangerous, unrepresentative views of the NRA and backs long-overdue, sensible reforms that will make our country safer.

“We represent more than 32,000 gun-owning MoveOn members and the constituents of the American Coalition for Responsible Gun Ownership. According to recent a recent poll by Public Policy Polling, our views are aligned with those of 83 percent of gun owners (and 72 percent of NRA members) nationally who also support criminal background checks on all sales of firearms.”

Mark Carman, Virginia Beach, VA
John Chase, Incline Village, NV
David Keefe, Wuasau, WI
Karen Kelly, Nashville, TN
Emily Landers, Granby, CT
Joe McCray, Portland, OR
Rick Movsky, Lowell, OR
Scott Pennington, Charlottesville, VA
Grant Short, Owensboro, KY
David Taylor, Roswell, GA
David Williams, Halfway, OR

A recent Public Policy Polling survey of gun owners found overwhelming support for background checks and a higher likelihood of gun owners supporting political candidates who move forward such legislation. The survey also found that a majority of National Rifle Association (NRA) members believe the organization is out of touch with them on these issues. The Public Policy Polling poll, conducted on behalf of MoveOn.org Civic Action and the Center for American Progress, surveyed 816 gun owners on November 11 and November 12 with a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percent. Read the full poll here.