Ceasefire Oregon is not backing down. We never have. We never will.

It’s Sunday night. June 19. It’s the eve of what could be the passage of hugely significant and highly effective gun violence prevention legislation in the US Senate.

I’m talking about background checks for all gun sales—nationwide.

I’m talking about closing dangerous loopholes.

I’m talking about banning military-style rifles that can—and do—blow away body parts of innocent men, women, and, God have mercy on us, children.

And here’s a sick truth: no one in Washington, not even the sponsors of the legislation, think the proposed legislation will become law.

But the Ceasefire Oregon Directors Board does. Millions of gun safety advocates do. And I think you do.

These laws might not be passed tomorrow. And maybe not next month. But we do know that reasonable, effective gun violence prevention legislation will pass, and pass sooner rather than later. And this November, we will remember who voted to protect American lives and who voted to protect gun lobby profits.

Make no mistake: Glock, Bushmaster and the nra know that as well. Gun sellers aren’t fighting to support the American Constitution; they are fighting to save their market share in a gun-saturated country that is the largest civilian gun market in the world. They know gun violence prevention laws are soon to be on the books and they will no longer be able to sell weapons of war in our country.

We know it’s a tough fight. We’ve been there. Ceasefire Oregon has been fighting for common sense gun laws for 16 years. We’ve stopped some truly bad bills and helped to pass great laws like Oregon’s universal background checks law.

We’ve seen the gun lobby successfully market mass murder weapons and a Rambo-like fallacy to all the corners of our nation’s psyche. We know the gun lobby is fighting to be able to sell every type of gun to anyone with enough money, regardless of the damage to American lives.

And right now, the gun lobby is hoping that we will grow too tired and too frustrated to fight back. They are hoping to wear us down and make us go away.

But the gun lobby doesn’t know who they are dealing with.

We are Ceasefire Oregon. We aren’t going to stop. We aren’t going away. We never have. We never will. And we have millions of sisters and brothers nationwide who feel the same way. We stand up and fight back for sensible gun laws that will save lives and respect our Constitution.

Selling guns to known terrorists is wrong.

Allowing criminals to buy guns without a background check is wrong.

And selling military-style rifles like the AR 15 is wrong.

The Murphy and Feinstein Amendments and the Assault Weapons Ban might not pass tomorrow. Or next month. But they will—and soon.

They will pass because millions of Americans are not backing down. Because this November millions of Americans will remember who voted to protect the nra instead of American lives.

These laws will pass because in a few months, we will elect politicians who will vote for common sense and human decency and reject greed and ignorance.

These laws will pass because stopping gun violence is a decent, humane and American act.

Join Ceasefire Oregon in our mission to end gun violence and call your Senators at (202) 224-3121. Tell them you demand strong, effective legislation including the Murphy Universal Background Checks Amendment, the Feinstein Amendment to Close the Terror Gap and a ban on assault weapons like the AR 15 that are slaughtering Americans daily.

Ceasefire Oregon isn’t backing down. We’re just getting warmed up.

Penny Okamoto

P.S. Personally, I always use lowercase letters for the nra. They have enough capital.