Hello --

During the State of the Union, President Obama called for a reasonable debate on a set of commonsense measures to help protect our kids by reducing gun violence. That night, Congress stood up and applauded. But now that the cameras are off and they aren’t forced to look the families of Newtown in the face, some in Congress aren’t backing up that show of support with action.

When it matters most, they're hoping that you're not paying attention.

But I know that's not the case. In the past week, 17,000 people have told us that they'll commit to adding their voices to this debate through social media -- together, they'll reach more than 15 million of their friends on Facebook and Twitter.

We're planning to have them speak out today. And we could really use your help.

Pledge to speak out about the need to reduce gun violence.

If we have a simple vote in Congress, we can get this done. And this afternoon, we'll begin to understand whether or not that's possible.

The Senate is considering a proposal that would go a long way toward making our country safer and protecting our kids. This afternoon, lawmakers get a chance to offer amendments -- some of them aimed at making the legislation better, some aimed at sinking it. One idea, closing loopholes in the background check system, has support from 90 percent of the public. In fact, even a majority of senators support this step. But we still need you to make your voice heard.

Vice President Biden will be talking through all of this today at 2:45 p.m. ET. He'll lead a discussion with a group of mayors from around the country on the steps we can take to reduce gun violence. You can watch that as it happens at whitehouse.gov.

And while you're doing that, take a minute to join the debate.

Pledge to speak out, and we'll work to make sure you're part of the conversation about guns here in Washington:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/preventing-gun-violence/action

Thanks,

Dan

Dan Pfeiffer
Senior Advisor
White House