To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate

Stand with families of gun violence victims who want to reinstate the assault weapons ban

Assault weapons have no place on American streets.

My cousin, Dani and his partner, Jean, were looking forward to building a life together in Florida. But they were murdered at Pulse nightclub, along with 47 others, on June 12, 2016, by a man filled with hate and armed with a weapon of war.

These firearms allow murderers to kill hundreds of people within minutes. Las Vegas was no different. The gunmen killed 59 people and injured 527 others in under 10 minutes from his 32nd floor hotel suite across the street, all made possible by military-style assault weapons.

Why is this important?

Immediately following Pulse I took my sadness, my anger, and turned it into action when I joined Pride Fund to End Gun Violence’s Board of Advisors, to ensure another pulse didn’t happen to anyone ever again. But on October 02, 2017, it did...this time in Las Vegas.

We can’t wait any longer. We’re fed up with Congress’s refusal to pass commonsense legislation that we know will save lives.

The Pride Fund’s agenda is what we all know just makes sense: Expand background checks to cover all gun sales. Prohibit suspected terrorists from purchasing guns. Restrict access to assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Support federally funded research on gun violence. And prevent those convicted of committing hate crimes from purchasing guns.

Our mission is to turn tragedy into action by raising and spending money to elect Democrats at the state and federal levels who support common sense gun reforms and champion LGBTQ equality. The Pride Fund is the only LGBTQ political organization solely focused on enacting gun policy reforms to ensure safety for all.