Moms for Common Sense Gun Control

It’s difficult for me to write this blog because last time I wrote a blog about gun control after the Las Vegas massacre—which unfortunately wasn’t that long ago—I was targeted by right wing groups. They posted information about me online: my home address, my office address, information about my two young sons. All of which is publicly available. So it wasn’t the information itself that was terrifying it was the implicit threat to my family. They also sent emails to my manager and corporate headquarters asking that I be fired. So I am scared. But I am more afraid of what happens when mothers like me who have a real stake in stopping gun violence in our nation’s schools are bullied into silence. Bullied isn’t even the right word. Calling me names is bullying. Implicitly threatening to harm my children is sick.

So I am standing up because I want to inspire all of you other mothers out there who sobbed last week when you dropped your children off at school while the radio recounted the details of the seventeen lives taken in one of America’s safest neighborhoods. We need to be brave for our children. We cannot continue to accept a system that allows for our children to practice active shooter scenarios at school while our elected officials send out prayers and look the other way while lining their pockets with blood money from the NRA.

We must draw the line.

As moms we draw lines all the time. We set curfews and limits on sleepovers and thresholds for good grades. Common sense gun control is simply another limit. Militarized weapons belong in the hands of our military and police only. Period. End of story. Madmen, militias, and hobbyists are the only other groups who insist on owning these types of weapons. Madmen shouldn’t have them, militia groups should join the US military, and hobbyists, it’s time to find a new hobby.

Gun control isn’t the only answer but it is the foundation that every other solution rests upon. Because gun control works:

After a 1996 mass shooting in Australia the citizens of the former penal colony enacted tougher firearm laws and nearly cut in half the gun homicide rate. Real actual 50% reduction. It happened.
In states that require background checks 47% less women are shot to death by their partners. Again nearly 50% reduction in gun violence. This isn’t a fantasy fairytale. This really happens.
In states that require background checks there are 53% less law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. I’d really, really, really love to give the mean and women who protect us and put their lives on the line for us a 53% better chance of coming home to their families after their shifts.

I think about all of those mothers who sent their children to Sandy Hook Elementary School and to high school in Parkland Florida. Every day I think about those women. They are just like us. They had no clue they were hugging their children for the last time. They were worried about all the little things us moms worry about every day. And then their children were gone and it was too late. They are just like us. There isn’t one way they differ from us mothers. Except now they know what it is like to plan their child’s funeral. We must stop this from happening to even one more child. Advocate, donate, organize, and vote. Your child’s life depends on it.

Let’s start by joining the survivors of the massacre in Parkland Florida by marching with them in DC and in our Communities. These young survivors created a group called March for Our Lives with the following mission statement:

School safety is not a political issue. There cannot be two sides to doing everything in our power to ensure the lives and futures of children who are at risk of dying when they should be learning, playing, and growing. The mission and focus of March For Our Lives is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues. No special interest group, no political agenda is more critical than timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country.

Every kid in this country now goes to school wondering if this day might be their last. We live in fear.

Let’s stand with them. Let’s stand with our children.