Letter to our Wisconsin Congressional Delegation on gun violence
On June 9, members of the Board of Supervisors sent a letter to our Wisconsin Congressional Delegation urging them to take action to curb gun violence in the United States.
You can read the letter here: tinyurl.com/ActToStopGunViolence
We issued a press release, which you can read below.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 9, 2022
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Supervisor April Kigeya, (608) 628-4239
COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISORS SEND LETTER CALLING ON LEGISLATORS TO TAKE ACTION TO CURB GUN VIOLENCE
Along with a group of Dane County students, members of the Dane County Board are calling on Wisconsin's US Congressional legislators to take action to curb gun violence.
On Friday, June 2, Dane County Supervisors Alex Joers, April Kigeya, Dana Pellebon, and Jacob Wright penned a letter to the Wisconsin Congressional Delegation with assistance from a number of elementary, middle, and high school students in the county including Kenya Kigeya (a recent graduate of Madison's West High School), Gordon Allen (a 12th grader at Madison's East High School), and Ezra Wright (a 4th grader at Madison's Elvehjem Elementary School).
Thirty-one Dane County supervisors, as well as 8 members of the Dane County Youth Governance Program, signed on to the letter. "We have heard your thoughts and prayers and your condolences to their families that now must go on without their loved ones," states the letter. "We demand action from you for the people of our state and our country."
The letter highlights the supervisors' commitment to do everything in their power to prevent gun violence, but it also demands federal-level actions including expansion of background checks, passage of safe storage legislation, raising the legal age for purchase of certain weapons, expansion of domestic terrorism investigation, and renewal of the assault weapons ban. These demands occur in the aftermath of mass shootings in Racine, Wisconsin; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Buffalo, New York; Laguna Woods, California; and Uvalde, Texas--the latter of which claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school.
"After the recent news of the Texas shooting, the 30th K-12 shooting this year, it should beg the question of where are we safe? If children cannot even attend school or teachers their jobs, how are we supposed to feel safe anywhere?" asked 19-year-old Kenya Kigeya. Ezra Wright, age 10, added "When I hear about guns at school, it makes me scared. Grown-ups need to act."
Dane County Supervisor Kierstin Huelsemann, who signed the letter and lost two of her closest friends to gun violence in 2009, urges her fellow elected officials to act. In remarks at the June 2nd Dane County Board meeting, Supervisor Wright highlighted an incident of gun violence that occurred in Racine on that same day and said, "the best time to take action was years ago, and the second-best time to take action is now." In a recent statement, Supervisor Joers said that "gun violence has struck every community in our nation, and the people in power who are able to do something to change our laws have turned their backs too many times."
The letter concludes with, "it's time to do the right thing."