Today is a really, really hard day for my husband Lonnie and me.

Our daughter Jessica was taken from us two years ago today in the mass shooting in a theater in Aurora, Colorado as she and a friend were watching a movie.

And it’s not just this anniversary that’s so painful for us. Every time the news reports another shooting, it takes us right back to the moment we got that call. And our hearts break all over again.

Lonnie and I went to Sandy Hook, we went to Washington after the Navy Yard shootings, and we went to California after the Isla Vista shooting. We try to just be there for the families who are going through what we did. My heart breaks for them, and I’d like to be able to tell them it gets better with time — but it doesn’t.

And each new shooting means another family is going through this same grieving process.

There’s no one solution to reduce gun violence, and background checks can’t prevent every shooting – nothing can. But there is a simple way to help keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons and other dangerous people — we need to close the loophole that makes it easy for them to get a gun without a background check.

Washington can take a big step towards reducing gun violence by voting Yes on 594 this November. Please click here to pledge your vote, and let’s close the loophole in Washington.

Lonnie and I are gun owners — and we know it should never be easy for dangerous people to obtain guns with no questions asked, whether on the Internet or at a gun show. These loopholes are totally unacceptable to us.

Background checks on all gun purchases is a simple, commonsense idea that we know is effective at saving lives.

It’s working in Colorado, where background checks on all sales has been the law for over a year — and it will work in Washington, too.

We need to give law enforcement the tools to keep us safe, and voting Yes on 594 will do just that.

Washington has a chance to close the loophole in our law that lets people buy guns over the internet or at gun shows with no questions asked — pledge to vote Yes on 594 today, and let’s make sure we close this loophole for good.

Today is never going to be easy day, but we owe it to Jessi and to so many others to do what we can to reduce gun violence.

Your support means a lot to us.

Thank you,

Sandy Phillips