A Simple Step to Curb the Violence

Last week, on Thanksgiving, our trustee and close friend Lynne Honickman, who is also a trustee of CeasefirePA, posted the following letter about sensible legislation to help curb gun violence. While Thanksgiving is passed, the message of this letter is still of vital importance, and we thank her for her leadership on this issue. Please take action! 

Dear Friends and Colleagues Thanksgiving is and always has been my favorite holiday. This day we not only give thanks and show gratitude for who and what we have in our lives, we hopefully also reflect on the life- saving needs of others and rush in where Angels seem at times too busy to tread.

As we watch the devastation in the Philippines, we as a nation are coming together to address, to help fix, the destructive mess of that which we cannot control-- the weather. That is life as it should be. But locally in Pennsylvania and throughout this nation there is a holocaust of rage, mental and emotional instability that informs and produces mass killings and everyday gun violence that are coming on a larger and more menacing scale every day. Blame it on the politicians, the NRA, the gun lobby, but don't forget to include our own inertia. We CAN control the destructive mess of gun violence through the passing of house bill 1010- a bill that demands background checks. A bill that would signal the beginning of Hope. HB 1010 is a simple bill -- an expansion of the background check system -- a bill that would make it harder for guns to get in the wrong hands and be used against our children. What's the matter with us as a supposedly civil society, that such a rational, simple and common sense fix for reducing the unnecessary killings that are taking our children's lives every day seems not to rally us but finds us in a kind of lethargy? What kind of human being rejects such a sensible answer?

If we come together with one cause this Thanksgiving, let it be to see the passing of House Bill 1010 which would at least achieve the expansion of the background check system, a no-brainer common-sense gun law for our commonwealth; a practical measure that is a major triumph for keeping our children and communities safer. As a mother and grandmother, I implore you as you're enjoying your family and friends-and counting your blessings this Thanksgiving -- please think about what we need to do to insure those blessings of a safe and secure community. And then go to your computer--sign the petition and use your power to help make HB1010 a reality. After that, hug your loved ones close...and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Warmest Regards, Lynne Honickman CeaseFirePA Trustee