Our Co-Founders explain why they chose to sign a letter to the Senate demanding action to prevent gun violence.

Teammates –

We are writing to tell you about a letter to the United States Senate that we signed along with the CEOs of roughly 145 other American companies, including Levi’s, Airbnb, Gap, Omnicom, Twitter, Pinterest, and many more. The letter was delivered to Capitol Hill early this morning and demands action to prevent gun violence. Our friend Chip Bergh, the CEO of Levi’s, spearheaded this initiative and specifically reached out to ask us to join this important movement. The New York Times had the exclusive and covered it here. 

We are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with our fellow CEOs who are taking the lead on an issue that is beyond out of control in America, and has been for quite some time. 

Every single day, 100 Americans are shot and killed and hundreds more are wounded by guns. This is simply unacceptable. But what is also unacceptable is not taking action, not doing our part to change the status quo. We can’t go on living in a world where we worry if our children’s school, our local stores or event spaces, or our offices will become the next target. We shouldn’t accept a society in which our teachers and students must be trained to lock doors, turn off the lights and hide from shooters. Have you noticed how no one anymore thinks, “it’ll never happen in my community”. They don’t, because we all know tragedy can strike at any moment to any of us in any city or town. 

Some of our leaders and commentators would have you believe that, as a nation, we are so deeply divided on this issue that we will never find common ground and are somehow stuck living in this unconscionable state. But the overwhelming majority of Americans want background checks on all gun sales and a strong Red Flag law. The House of Representatives has already passed bipartisan legislation to require background checks on all gun sales, and will be considering a strong Red Flag law in the coming weeks. Now, it’s the Senate’s turn to act. 

We know that there is a business risk in doing this, that we might alienate some of our broad base of customers across the political spectrum. We remain a brand for all women and we stand behind that. But this was an issue we had to speak up and try to do something about – especially so as the connection between guns and domestic violence makes the US the most dangerous country for women when compared to other high-income countries. We hope that those who disagree will respect our rights as Americans to express and advocate for our point of view, just as we respect their right to disagree. This is America after all. 

At ThirdLove, we know there is no problem we can’t solve as long as we’re working as a team. It has been that way from the beginning when so many told us what we were doing was impossible. This is no different, let’s make a change and put a stop to this unacceptable status quo. 

Signing this letter is a first step in our commitment as CEOs and leaders in our communities to do our part to end gun violence.

Thanks for your support!

Heidi and Dave