In a petition emailed today to supporters, Organizing for Action, President Obama's former campaign group, uses violence in Chicago to push for more gun control.
"In 2009, my schoolmate Greg Robinson was in the backseat of a car returning home from a basketball game when someone with a gun opened fire," the letter from "Ronnie Mosley," of Morehouse College Class of 2013, emails.
He died shielding his young cousins from gunfire.
Greg wasn't a gang member -- he was a 14-year-old who wanted to play basketball. He was quiet and kind, and that year, he was the 28th student in the Chicago public school system to be killed.
Since then, I've been fighting for common-sense gun legislation to honor Greg's memory and to help prevent this kind of violence from happening again.
I added my name to OFA's petition to Congress demanding action on gun violence. But my voice and my story isn't enough on its own. Together, our voices are powerful enough to make Congress act -- so please, add your name, too.
Right now, I live in Georgia for school -- and last month I watched my new senators both vote against expanding background checks for gun sales.
It was disappointing and disheartening. All I could think about was the kids back in my neighborhood in Chicago. We have an acronym: LIFE -- living in fear everyday.
But bullets don't come with name tags. No one intended to shoot Greg, or his little cousins. On your walk to school or on your way home, you couldn't help but be afraid that it could happen to you.
That's why I'm not giving up just because we lost one vote. As a country, we can and should make it harder for bad guys to get their hands on deadly weapons. To me, it's just common sense.
Sign OFA's petition to Congress to demand action on universal background checks for gun sales, and take one big step toward making our communities safer: http://my.barackobama.com/Sign-the-Petition
Thank you.
Ronnie
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