Below are excerpts from an internal memo from Amy Binder to the RF|Binder team regarding recent acts of gun violence

Although we are all heading off to a long weekend, which hopefully will give us an opportunity to spend time with friends and family, I felt it imperative to communicate my thoughts to you now about the recent shooting at Uvalde at the Robb Elementary School and not wait until we return next week.

In the aftermath of the horrific news of the Texas school shooting, coupled earlier this month, with the events in Buffalo just over a week ago, the succession of NYC subway shootings and killings and the California church shooting, I wanted to reach out to each of you. I am sure many of you feel the way I do, which is a total sense of despair. I know we are all incredibly shocked and profoundly upset by each of these devastating events and by the number of them in rapid succession.

We stand alone as a nation that has and tolerates so many of these senseless shootings, and that does not take legislative action to try to stop them. I am sure all of you have been reading the articles about how many countries around the world take positive action after this type of experience.

I keep asking myself, what keeps this country from doing something to stop this horrific violence. I recognize that while these incidents may affect each of us differently, they take a toll on our mental health. It is all a lot for us to comprehend and then come to terms with.

I encourage you to take time to talk about and process your feelings over the next couple of weeks. But in time I am hoping that all of us can shift towards action. As we have said before, it is very important that we do take action, individually and collectively, on issues that we care about deeply.

The inability of our country to enact stricter gun control laws must stop. Each of us should think about what we can do to get sensible gun control legislation passed by Congress. How many more mass shootings can we tolerate? Calls by some that the problem of shooting in schools can be stopped by arming teachers and others at our schools of course is not the answer.

At RF|Binder, we take responsible social action seriously. But responsible social action, whether letter writing, lobbying our political leaders or participating in lawful protests, must come from each of us.

We are all busy in our everyday lives so it is hard to find the time. I have this conversation with myself all of the time. We already have in place our Social Justice and Voting Rights Committees, who have done great work since their formation.

We look to them and to each of you to take leadership roles and help make a change. At RF|Binder, I want to make sure that everyone feels that they can use their voice and have an impact on the issues that you care about. That is at the essence of what this country is all about. Without this, we would not have a democracy.

Amy