Can a Group of Moms End Gun Violence?
I was talking to my mother on the phone like I do most afternoons once all the kids are home when we heard disturbing news about another school shooting.
My breathing tightened and I felt hot-anxiety pour into my stomach thinking about my own daughter (Ginny, age 4) who is attending our local preschool.
Everyday I drop her off, and every day I say that unthinkable prayer that I hope everything will be okay and she will come home to me safely.
“I’m so glad Ginny doesn’t have to do shooter drills yet.” I said to my mother.
“She’s already doing them.” My mother responded.
“What?!” I asked in mortified shock.
“Every class does them. She doesn’t know really what it means yet. It’s just a drill.” My mother reassured.
“But one day?” I said with tears in my eyes.
“One day…” We both trailed off.
I hung up the phone with my mother that afternoon, but I’ve never shaken that feeling of “one day.”
One day I’ll have to tell my daughter that she lives in a country that has no gun regulation and anyone at any time can buy a gun and slaughter school children, people in a grocery store, or folks at a concert.
They don’t traumatize their children and practice active shooter drills in France, Germany, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, China, the UK, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, or anywhere else in the world.
BECAUSE THIS IS NOT NORMAL.
And I’m sick of feeling a helpless wave of nausea come over me every time I watch the news and hear another story about gun violence. I’m not going to look my daughter in the eyes in the morning anymore and say, “You are safe. You are loved. You are going to have a wonderful day at school.” When I don’t mean it. So I’m doing something about it.
I’m going to Denver on June 5th with Here 4 the Kids, a movement lead by women of color. Here is their plan via their website:
“On Monday, June 5, 2023, over 25,000 white women will show up on the lawn at the capitol in Denver to demand that Governor Jared Polis sign an Executive Order to ban guns and buy them back. And they are not leaving until our demands are met.”
It’s a strategic plan to go state to state and eliminate gun violence on a local level starting with 25,000 angry mothers on the lawn of the Colorado capital.
I will be one of them. Will you join me?
Erin