The heads of 145 American companies have written an open letter to Senate leaders urging stronger “red flag” laws and the expansion of firearm background checks, reports the New York Times. The letter implores Republican senators to pass gun safety bills already introduced in the House by Congressional Democrats.
“Doing nothing about America’s gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable, and it is time to stand with the American public on gun safety,” the letter states. It comes just five weeks after two mass shootings rocked America, including the one at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, which killed 22 people.
The signatories of the letter say they hope to see a law passed that would require background checks on all gun sales in the country as well as a “strong red flag” law. Red flag laws are laws that allow family or the police to petition a court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who has been deemed a threat to themselves or others.
In total, 145 leaders of companies with more than 500 employees each signed the letter, including the CEOs of Airbnb, Pinterest, Reddit, Twitter, Uber, Bain Capital, Beyond Meat, DoorDash, Gap, Levi Strauss, Lyft, and Yelp.
“Gun violence in America is not inevitable; it’s preventable,” the company heads wrote. “We need our lawmakers to support common-sense gun laws that could prevent tragedies like these.”
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