Talking Points for Gun Safety

(From Bill Kuch at VT State Messaging)

Talking Points

Core Values: Security, safety, protection, freedom

Topline Messages:

• We should have the freedom to be safe in our homes, our neighborhoods and at work, without the constant threat of gun violence hanging over our heads.
• We’ve learn that we are not immune in Vermont. We’ve heard a variety of root causes of gun violence: irresponsible gun ownerships, mental health issues, and destabilized families. To make our families, our schools, and our communities safer, we need to change some laws…now. That’s why we are working hard and taking action to pass gun safety laws to prevent gun violence
• Our communities can’t be safe if we allow guns to be sold to felons or the dangerously mentally ill.

DON’T SAY…	SAY…
Gun control	Prevent gun violence
Stricter gun laws	Stronger gun laws
You oppose the 2nd Amendment	Support for the 2nd Amendment goes hand-in-hand with keeping the guns out of the hands of dangerous people

General Points

• Current laws allow easy access to guns for criminals, mentally unstable people, and even terrorists.
• Our police officers are at risk every day when they confront criminals who are armed to the teeth with military-style weapons that are freely available

• This isn’t a conversation about your grandfather’s hunting rifle.  Extraordinarily dangerous, military-style weapons are now within easy reach across America.
• The NRA’s lobbyists aren’t defending everyday folks. They’re a giant operation defending powerful gun manufacturers at every turn.
• 74% of NRA members support requiring background checks of anyone purchasing a gun. It’s the NRA’s out-of-touch officials and lobbyists who are the problem.
• For decades, NRA officials, the firearms industry, and their allies on Capitol Hill have waged a relentless effort to gut common sense gun laws and to pass reckless measures that put more people at risk.
• You don’t hear much from the NRA and their allies when violence strikes. That’s because they can’t possibly defend their reckless agenda in the face of such terrible human pain and suffering.
• There isn’t a shred of credible evidence that more guns and more shooting save people’s lives. There is lots of evidence that more guns and more shooting mean more tragedy.
• We need stronger gun laws to free us from the gun violence that threatens or homes and our communities.

• Stronger gun laws protect our children and keep people alive.