The following is an open letter signed by 145 CEO's of corporations asking the Senate to pass gun control legislation -- specifically legislation that would close the loopholes in the background check law, and create a strong "red flag" law to take guns away from dangerous people. Here is that letter:
September 12, 2019
Dear Members of the Senate:
Our hearts are with the victims, their families and loved ones and all those affected by the tragic shootings in El Paso and West Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. These families became members of a club that no one wants to join: the millions of Americans whose lives have been forever altered by gun violence.
Every day, 100 Americans are shot and killed and hundreds more are wounded. These are more than mass shootings; in recent weeks, gun violence has devastated Chicago, Canoga Park, Newport News, Gilroy and Brooklyn, among others. This is a public health crisis that demands urgent action.
As leaders of some of America’s most respected companies and those with significant business interests in the United States, we are writing to you because we have a responsibility and obligation to stand up for the safety of our employees, customers and all Americans in the communities we serve across the country. Doing nothing about America’s gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable and it is time to stand with the American public on gun safety.
Gun violence in America is not inevitable; it’s preventable. There are steps Congress can, and must, take to prevent and reduce gun violence. We need our lawmakers to support common- sense gun laws that could prevent tragedies like these.
That’s why we urge the Senate to stand with the American public and take action on gun safety by passing a bill to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong Red Flag law that would allow courts to issue life-saving extreme risk protection orders.
Background checks and Extreme Risk laws (also referred to as "Red Flag laws") are proven to save lives. Since Congress established the background check system 25 years ago, background checks have blocked more than 3.5 million gun sales to prohibited purchasers, including to convicted felons, domestic abusers, and people who have been involuntarily committed.
However, in the decades since, the law requiring background checks on gun sales has not been updated to reflect how people buy guns today. The Senate must follow the House’s lead by passing bipartisan legislation that would update the background checks law, helping to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, in an effort to save lives. Background checks on all gun sales are a common-sense solution with overwhelming public support and are a critical step toward stemming the gun violence epidemic in this country.
Perpetrators of mass shootings, school shootings, and hate crimes often display warning signs before committing violent acts. Additionally, people who end their life with a gun also often show signs that they are in crisis before they act. Interventions in states with Extreme Risk laws have already prevented potential tragedies. Expanding Extreme Risk laws to enable families and law enforcement nationwide to intervene when someone is at serious risk of hurting themselves or others is critical to preventing future tragedies.
Every day, 100 Americans are shot and killed and hundreds more are wounded. These are more than mass shootings; in recent weeks, gun violence has devastated Chicago, Canoga Park, Newport News, Gilroy and Brooklyn, among others. This is a public health crisis that demands urgent action.
As leaders of some of America’s most respected companies and those with significant business interests in the United States, we are writing to you because we have a responsibility and obligation to stand up for the safety of our employees, customers and all Americans in the communities we serve across the country. Doing nothing about America’s gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable and it is time to stand with the American public on gun safety.
Gun violence in America is not inevitable; it’s preventable. There are steps Congress can, and must, take to prevent and reduce gun violence. We need our lawmakers to support common- sense gun laws that could prevent tragedies like these.
That’s why we urge the Senate to stand with the American public and take action on gun safety by passing a bill to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong Red Flag law that would allow courts to issue life-saving extreme risk protection orders.
Background checks and Extreme Risk laws (also referred to as "Red Flag laws") are proven to save lives. Since Congress established the background check system 25 years ago, background checks have blocked more than 3.5 million gun sales to prohibited purchasers, including to convicted felons, domestic abusers, and people who have been involuntarily committed.
However, in the decades since, the law requiring background checks on gun sales has not been updated to reflect how people buy guns today. The Senate must follow the House’s lead by passing bipartisan legislation that would update the background checks law, helping to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, in an effort to save lives. Background checks on all gun sales are a common-sense solution with overwhelming public support and are a critical step toward stemming the gun violence epidemic in this country.
Perpetrators of mass shootings, school shootings, and hate crimes often display warning signs before committing violent acts. Additionally, people who end their life with a gun also often show signs that they are in crisis before they act. Interventions in states with Extreme Risk laws have already prevented potential tragedies. Expanding Extreme Risk laws to enable families and law enforcement nationwide to intervene when someone is at serious risk of hurting themselves or others is critical to preventing future tragedies.
These proposals are common-sense, bipartisan and widely supported by the American public. It is time for the Senate to take action.
Sincerely,
Organizations with more than 500 employees:
Brian Chesky, Co-Founder, Head of Community and CEO, Airbnb Keith Mestrich, President and CEO, Amalgamated Bank
John Connaughton and Jonathan Lavine, Co-Managing Partners, and Josh Bekenstein and Steve Pagliuca, Co-Chairmen, Bain Capital
Ethan Brown, Co-Founder and CEO, Beyond Meat
Peter T. Grauer, Chairman, Bloomberg LP
Ric Clark, Chairman, Brookfield Property Group Fritz Lanman, CEO, ClassPass
Roger Lynch, CEO, Condé Nast
Ken Lin, Founder and CEO, Credit Karma Edward Stack, CEO, DICK'S Sporting Goods Tony Xu, Co-Founder and CEO, DoorDash Doug Baker, Chairman and CEO, Ecolab Richard Edelman, President and CEO, Edelman Julia Hartz, Co-Founder and CEO, Eventbrite Art Peck, CEO, Gap Inc.
Eddy Lu, CEO, Goat Group
Ben Lerer, Co-Founder and CEO, Group Nine Media
Yannick Bolloré, CEO, Havas Group
Bill Koenigsberg, President, CEO and Founder, Horizon Media
Patrick O. Brown, MD, PhD, Founder and CEO, Impossible Foods
Michael Roth, Chairman and CEO, Interpublic
Rob Frohwein, Co-Founder and CEO, and Kathryn Petralia, Co-Founder and President, Kabbage Inc. and Drum Technologies
Chip Bergh, President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
Logan Green, Co-Founder and CEO, and John Zimmer, Co-Founder and President, Lyft Dev Ittycheria, President and CEO, MongoDB, Inc.
Howard Marks, Co-Chairman, Oaktree Capital Management
Todd McKinnon, Co-Founder and CEO, Okta
John Wren, Chairman and CEO, Omnicom Group
Ben Silbermann, Co-Founder and CEO, Pinterest
Bastian Lehmann, Co-Founder & CEO, Postmates
Hamid R. Moghadam, Chairman and CEO, Prologis
Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe
Steve Huffman, CEO, Reddit
Richard Fain, CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Sincerely,
Organizations with more than 500 employees:
Brian Chesky, Co-Founder, Head of Community and CEO, Airbnb Keith Mestrich, President and CEO, Amalgamated Bank
John Connaughton and Jonathan Lavine, Co-Managing Partners, and Josh Bekenstein and Steve Pagliuca, Co-Chairmen, Bain Capital
Ethan Brown, Co-Founder and CEO, Beyond Meat
Peter T. Grauer, Chairman, Bloomberg LP
Ric Clark, Chairman, Brookfield Property Group Fritz Lanman, CEO, ClassPass
Roger Lynch, CEO, Condé Nast
Ken Lin, Founder and CEO, Credit Karma Edward Stack, CEO, DICK'S Sporting Goods Tony Xu, Co-Founder and CEO, DoorDash Doug Baker, Chairman and CEO, Ecolab Richard Edelman, President and CEO, Edelman Julia Hartz, Co-Founder and CEO, Eventbrite Art Peck, CEO, Gap Inc.
Eddy Lu, CEO, Goat Group
Ben Lerer, Co-Founder and CEO, Group Nine Media
Yannick Bolloré, CEO, Havas Group
Bill Koenigsberg, President, CEO and Founder, Horizon Media
Patrick O. Brown, MD, PhD, Founder and CEO, Impossible Foods
Michael Roth, Chairman and CEO, Interpublic
Rob Frohwein, Co-Founder and CEO, and Kathryn Petralia, Co-Founder and President, Kabbage Inc. and Drum Technologies
Chip Bergh, President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
Logan Green, Co-Founder and CEO, and John Zimmer, Co-Founder and President, Lyft Dev Ittycheria, President and CEO, MongoDB, Inc.
Howard Marks, Co-Chairman, Oaktree Capital Management
Todd McKinnon, Co-Founder and CEO, Okta
John Wren, Chairman and CEO, Omnicom Group
Ben Silbermann, Co-Founder and CEO, Pinterest
Bastian Lehmann, Co-Founder & CEO, Postmates
Hamid R. Moghadam, Chairman and CEO, Prologis
Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe
Steve Huffman, CEO, Reddit
Richard Fain, CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Scott Rechler, Chairman and CEO, RXR Realty
Jon Oringer, Founder and CEO, Shutterstock, Inc.
Jack Dorsey, CEO, Square and Twitter
Anthony Casalena, Founder and CEO, Squarespace
Zander Lurie, CEO, SurveyMonkey
Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive Global
Blake Mycoskie, Founder and Chief Shoe Giver, and Jim Alling, CEO, TOMS Jeff Lawson, Co-Founder and CEO, Twilio
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Uber
Mark Read, CEO, WPP
Jeremy Stoppelman, Co-Founder and CEO, Yelp
Organizations with fewer than 500 employees:
Kevin P. Ryan, Founder and CEO, AlleyCorp Travis Truett, Co-Founder and CEO, Ambition
John W. Rogers, Jr., Founder, Chairman and Co-CEO, and Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President, Ariel Investments, LLC
Mike Steib, CEO, Artsy
Sean Knapp, Co-Founder and CEO, Ascend.io
Andrei Cherny, Co-Founder and CEO, Aspiration
Abdur Chowdhury, CEO, Aura
Fahim M. Aziz, Founder and CEO, Backpack
JJ Abrams, Chairman and Co-CEO, and Katie McGrath, Co-CEO, Bad Robot Ari Paparo, CEO, BeeswaxIO Corporation
Ryan Block, Co-Founder, Begin
John Borthwick, Founder and CEO, Betaworks
Raphael Crawford-Marks, Co-Founder and CEO, Bonusly Darren Lachtman, Co-Founder, Brat
Trevor McFedries, CEO, Brud
Sameer Shariff, Co-Founder, Cambly
Analisa Goodin, Founder and CEO, Catch&Release, Inc. Andrew Feldman, Founder and CEO, Cerebras Systems George Favvas, CEO, Circle Medical
Alex MacCaw, CEO, Clearbit
Tyler Bosmeny, CEO, Clever
Matt Martin, Co-Founder and CEO, Clockwise
Othman Laraki, Co-Founder and CEO, Color Genomics Jager McConnell, CEO, Crunchbase, Inc.
Apu Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO, Curalate, Inc.
David Oates, Co-Founder and CEO, Curtsy
Brian Ree, Founder and CEO, DAILYLOOK
Jon Oringer, Founder and CEO, Shutterstock, Inc.
Jack Dorsey, CEO, Square and Twitter
Anthony Casalena, Founder and CEO, Squarespace
Zander Lurie, CEO, SurveyMonkey
Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive Global
Blake Mycoskie, Founder and Chief Shoe Giver, and Jim Alling, CEO, TOMS Jeff Lawson, Co-Founder and CEO, Twilio
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Uber
Mark Read, CEO, WPP
Jeremy Stoppelman, Co-Founder and CEO, Yelp
Organizations with fewer than 500 employees:
Kevin P. Ryan, Founder and CEO, AlleyCorp Travis Truett, Co-Founder and CEO, Ambition
John W. Rogers, Jr., Founder, Chairman and Co-CEO, and Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President, Ariel Investments, LLC
Mike Steib, CEO, Artsy
Sean Knapp, Co-Founder and CEO, Ascend.io
Andrei Cherny, Co-Founder and CEO, Aspiration
Abdur Chowdhury, CEO, Aura
Fahim M. Aziz, Founder and CEO, Backpack
JJ Abrams, Chairman and Co-CEO, and Katie McGrath, Co-CEO, Bad Robot Ari Paparo, CEO, BeeswaxIO Corporation
Ryan Block, Co-Founder, Begin
John Borthwick, Founder and CEO, Betaworks
Raphael Crawford-Marks, Co-Founder and CEO, Bonusly Darren Lachtman, Co-Founder, Brat
Trevor McFedries, CEO, Brud
Sameer Shariff, Co-Founder, Cambly
Analisa Goodin, Founder and CEO, Catch&Release, Inc. Andrew Feldman, Founder and CEO, Cerebras Systems George Favvas, CEO, Circle Medical
Alex MacCaw, CEO, Clearbit
Tyler Bosmeny, CEO, Clever
Matt Martin, Co-Founder and CEO, Clockwise
Othman Laraki, Co-Founder and CEO, Color Genomics Jager McConnell, CEO, Crunchbase, Inc.
Apu Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO, Curalate, Inc.
David Oates, Co-Founder and CEO, Curtsy
Brian Ree, Founder and CEO, DAILYLOOK
Saurabh Ladha, CEO, Doxel, Inc.
Andy Coravos, Co-Founder and CEO, Elektra Labs
Laurene Powell Jobs, President, Emerson Collective
Pradeep Elankumaran, Co-Founder & CEO, Farmstead
Desiree Gruber, CEO, Full Picture
Jared Hecht, Founder and CEO, Fundera
Jude Gomila, Founder and CEO, Golden
Rick Nucci, Co-Founder and CEO, Guru
Kara Goldin, Founder and CEO, Hint, Inc.
Jeff Sellinger, Co-Founder and CEO, HipDot
Prerna Gupta, CEO, Hooked
Cyrus Massoumi, Managing Partner, humbition
Kristin Savilia, CEO, JOOR
Pierre Valade, CEO, Jumbo Privacy
William Martino, Founder and CEO, Kadena
Jake Perlman-Garr, CEO, Kanga
Warren Shaeffer, Co-Founder and CEO, Knowable
Jack Altman, CEO, Lattice
Aaron N. Block, Co-Founder and Managing Director, MetaProp.vc
Afton Vechery, Co-Founder and CEO, Modern Fertility
Dan Parham, Founder and CEO, and Tee Parham, Founder and CTO, Neighborland Shafqat Islam, CEO, NewsCred
Sarah Friar, CEO, Nextdoor
Athan Stephanopoulos, President, NowThis
Varsha Rao, CEO, Nurx
William E. Oberndorf, Chairman, Oberndorf Enterprises
Steven Rosenblatt, Co-Founder and General Partner, Oceans
Nick Huzar, Co-Founder and CEO, OfferUp
James Segil, Co-Founder and President, Openpath
Jordan Husney, CEO, Parabol
Doug Aley, CEO, Paravision
John Milinovich, CEO, Plato Design
Rajat Suri, CEO, Presto
Christopher Gavigan, Founder and CEO, Prima
Adam Regelmann, Founder and COO, Quartzy
Nate Maslak, Co-Founder and CEO, and Nate Fox, Co-Founder and CTO, Ribbon Health Zachariah Reitano, Co-Founder and CEO, Ro
Gary Beasley, Co-Founder and CEO, Roofstock
Stephen Ehikian, Co-Founder and CEO, Ruist
Brian Schechter, CEO, SelfMade
Olga Vidisheva, Founder and CEO, Shoptiques Inc.
Dan Doctoroff, CEO, Sidewalk Labs
Andy Coravos, Co-Founder and CEO, Elektra Labs
Laurene Powell Jobs, President, Emerson Collective
Pradeep Elankumaran, Co-Founder & CEO, Farmstead
Desiree Gruber, CEO, Full Picture
Jared Hecht, Founder and CEO, Fundera
Jude Gomila, Founder and CEO, Golden
Rick Nucci, Co-Founder and CEO, Guru
Kara Goldin, Founder and CEO, Hint, Inc.
Jeff Sellinger, Co-Founder and CEO, HipDot
Prerna Gupta, CEO, Hooked
Cyrus Massoumi, Managing Partner, humbition
Kristin Savilia, CEO, JOOR
Pierre Valade, CEO, Jumbo Privacy
William Martino, Founder and CEO, Kadena
Jake Perlman-Garr, CEO, Kanga
Warren Shaeffer, Co-Founder and CEO, Knowable
Jack Altman, CEO, Lattice
Aaron N. Block, Co-Founder and Managing Director, MetaProp.vc
Afton Vechery, Co-Founder and CEO, Modern Fertility
Dan Parham, Founder and CEO, and Tee Parham, Founder and CTO, Neighborland Shafqat Islam, CEO, NewsCred
Sarah Friar, CEO, Nextdoor
Athan Stephanopoulos, President, NowThis
Varsha Rao, CEO, Nurx
William E. Oberndorf, Chairman, Oberndorf Enterprises
Steven Rosenblatt, Co-Founder and General Partner, Oceans
Nick Huzar, Co-Founder and CEO, OfferUp
James Segil, Co-Founder and President, Openpath
Jordan Husney, CEO, Parabol
Doug Aley, CEO, Paravision
John Milinovich, CEO, Plato Design
Rajat Suri, CEO, Presto
Christopher Gavigan, Founder and CEO, Prima
Adam Regelmann, Founder and COO, Quartzy
Nate Maslak, Co-Founder and CEO, and Nate Fox, Co-Founder and CTO, Ribbon Health Zachariah Reitano, Co-Founder and CEO, Ro
Gary Beasley, Co-Founder and CEO, Roofstock
Stephen Ehikian, Co-Founder and CEO, Ruist
Brian Schechter, CEO, SelfMade
Olga Vidisheva, Founder and CEO, Shoptiques Inc.
Dan Doctoroff, CEO, Sidewalk Labs
Jason Tan, CEO, Sift
Matt Cooper, CEO, Skillshare
Grant Jordan, CEO, SkySafe
Josh Guttman, Co-Founder and CEO and Florent Peyre, Co-Founder and President, Small Door Michael Carvin, Co-Founder and CEO, SmartAsset
Aaron King, Founder and CEO, Snapdocs, Inc.
Neil Capel, CEO, Solve.io
Ben Hindman, Co-Founder and CEO, Splash
Evan Beard, Founder and CEO, Standard Bots
Stanlee R. Gatti, Founder, Stanlee R. Gatti Designs
Bradford Oberwager, CEO, Sundia Corporation
Ross Feinstein, CEO, Sunlight Health
Paul Budnitz, CEO, Superplastic
Ron Conway, Founder, SV Angel
Heidi Zak, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, and David Spector, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, ThirdLove Yashar Nejati, CEO, thisopenspace inc.
Joshua Kushner, Founder and Managing Partner, Thrive Capital
Chris Wang, CEO, ThunderCore Inc.
Corbett Kull, CEO, Tillable
Meghan Jewitt, CEO, Uniform Teeth
Nicholas Goldner, Co-Founder and CEO, and Christopher Bulow, Co-Founder and COO, Viosera Therapeutics
Ken Chong, CEO, Virtual Kitchen Co
Irv Remedios, CEO, Voxer
Oliver Cameron, Co-Founder and CEO, Voyage
Chase Adam, Co-Founder and CEO, and Grace Garey, Co-Founder and COO, Watsi
Liz Wessel, Co-Founder and CEO, WayUp
Neil Waller, CEO, Whalar
Bismarck Lepe, CEO, Wizeline
Dennis R. Mortensen, Founder and CEO, x.ai, inc.
Geoff Ralston, President, Y Combinator
Shan-Lyn Ma, Co-Founder and CEO, Zola
Matt Cooper, CEO, Skillshare
Grant Jordan, CEO, SkySafe
Josh Guttman, Co-Founder and CEO and Florent Peyre, Co-Founder and President, Small Door Michael Carvin, Co-Founder and CEO, SmartAsset
Aaron King, Founder and CEO, Snapdocs, Inc.
Neil Capel, CEO, Solve.io
Ben Hindman, Co-Founder and CEO, Splash
Evan Beard, Founder and CEO, Standard Bots
Stanlee R. Gatti, Founder, Stanlee R. Gatti Designs
Bradford Oberwager, CEO, Sundia Corporation
Ross Feinstein, CEO, Sunlight Health
Paul Budnitz, CEO, Superplastic
Ron Conway, Founder, SV Angel
Heidi Zak, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, and David Spector, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, ThirdLove Yashar Nejati, CEO, thisopenspace inc.
Joshua Kushner, Founder and Managing Partner, Thrive Capital
Chris Wang, CEO, ThunderCore Inc.
Corbett Kull, CEO, Tillable
Meghan Jewitt, CEO, Uniform Teeth
Nicholas Goldner, Co-Founder and CEO, and Christopher Bulow, Co-Founder and COO, Viosera Therapeutics
Ken Chong, CEO, Virtual Kitchen Co
Irv Remedios, CEO, Voxer
Oliver Cameron, Co-Founder and CEO, Voyage
Chase Adam, Co-Founder and CEO, and Grace Garey, Co-Founder and COO, Watsi
Liz Wessel, Co-Founder and CEO, WayUp
Neil Waller, CEO, Whalar
Bismarck Lepe, CEO, Wizeline
Dennis R. Mortensen, Founder and CEO, x.ai, inc.
Geoff Ralston, President, Y Combinator
Shan-Lyn Ma, Co-Founder and CEO, Zola
