#177) How We Got Here

Paul Ryan

Speaker of the House

H-232 The Capital

Washington, DC  20515

February 21, 2018

Dear Mr. Speaker,

In case you are wondering why your office is suddenly being inundated with angry phone calls, letters and emails about your lack of leadership on banning automatic and semi-automatic weapons let me break it down simply for you.

December 3, 2015

After 14 were shot and killed at a disability center in California you said:

"We need to fix our mental illness laws."

June 12, 2016

After 49 were shot and killed at a nightclub in Florida you said:

"It is horrifying to see so many innocent lives cut short by cowardice."

October 3, 2017

After 58 were shot and killed at a concert in Las Vegas you said:

"Right now, we're focused on passing our budget."

November 6, 2017

After 26 people were shot and killed at a church in Texas you said:

"The right thing to do is to pray in moments like this, because you know what?  Prayer works."

February 15, 2018

After 17 people were shot and killed at a high school in Florida you said:

"Right now, I think we need to take a breath."

This is the nuts and bolts of it, but let me flush it out a little more for you just so you can see where all this hate and anger towards you is coming from.

·      It is not illegal to have a mental illness.  And in a country where it is easier to purchase a gun than to access mental health care it should not surprise you that people see that as a option to end their suffering.

·      In February 2017 you and Donald Trump overturned the Obama-era regulation that provided background checks for people with mental illnesses purchasing guns.

·       Not a single one of these shooters was an Islamic terrorist or an illegal immigrant.  No wall would have stopped these people.

·      These innocent lives were not "cut short by cowardice" they were cut short by bullets fired from very powerful guns.

·      While 58 people were killed in the Las Vegas concert shooting, remember that over 500 were injured.  These people survived the largest mass shooting in American history.  They are alive, they are traumatized, they have families and friends who want to prevent this from every happening again, and they vote.

·      The surviving children from the Parkland, Florida school shooting are organizing.  They have had enough and they do not need to "take a breath".  They are taking matters into their own hands, turning their grief into action and you should be very scared of their movement because they are coming for you and the NRA.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton