Gun safety advocates set their sights on elected office
A gun safety advocacy group that began in 2012 after 20 young children were shot down in their classrooms has grown since then and is increasingly focusing on getting its members into elected office. More than a thousand volunteer leaders from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America gathered Friday at an Atlanta hotel for a two-day conference called Gun Sense University. The kickoff event included big-name supporters, like actress Julianne Moore and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as survivors of gun violence. A common refrain Friday was a push to run for office. A “Running for Office 101” training session on Friday drew nearly four dozen people. One of them was DeAndra Yates from Indianapolis who got involved after her 13-year-old son was shot at a birthday party in February 2014. Now 17, her son DeAndre is a non-verbal quadriplegic. She has another son, 14-year-old Darrius, and three stepsons, and Yates said she fears every day for their safety. She can’t bear the thought of another mother having to go through what she did. Her involvement with Moms Demand Action has inspired her and she sees elected office as a way to take her activism to the next level. “It’s one thing as a survivor to go speak and pull on their heartstrings, but actually being the one with power to make things change means a lot to me,” she said. Yates said she plans to run in the next few years, though she’s not ready yet to say which office she might seek. Shannon Watts, a mother of five in Indiana, started the Moms Demand Action Facebook page that grew into a movement the day after those 20 students and six educators were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December 2012. The group partnered with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, co-founded by Bloomberg, under the umbrella of Everytown for Gun Safety. Watts knew nothing about America’s gun laws or community organizing, but felt she had to do something after Sandy Hook. “We built the plane as we flew it,” she said during the conference kickoff event. Now, the effort is five million-strong and includes more than 300,000 active volunteers who work on “bringing the gun lobby to its knees through unglamorous, heavy lifting, grass roots activism,” she said. Along the way, as they learned more about laws and policy, figured out how the system works and lobbied lawmakers, the volunteers began to realize that they were as qualified as any of the people in office, Watts said in an interview. Jennifer Lugar was one of those women. After her husband fatally shot himself in 2009, news reports about gun deaths suddenly felt more relevant to her. A common thread was often easy access to guns, she said. “Having a gun sitting there turns an impulse that might go away in 30 seconds into a tragedy that lasts forever,” she said. During the 2016 election she served as a volunteer for Moms Demand Action, giving her insight into how the process works and making her realize it was accessible to her. She then learned of vacancies on the borough council where she lives in Jenkintown, a Philadelphia suburb. She applied to be appointed to finish out one of the terms and then ran successfully for re-election last year. Although gun policy tends to be made at the state and national levels, her elected position has allowed her to make important connections and given her a bigger platform to spread her message, she said. Elizabeth Becker of Las Vegas fought hard in 2016 to get a background check initiative onto the ballot after the state’s governor vetoed a similar measure passed by the legislature. It was approved by voters, and now she’s thinking of running for office herself. “Once you get involved, you realized how wrong we are getting it in this country,” she said, referring to the nation’s gun laws. Becker participated in the conference’s class on running for office, which gave participants a taste of the lessons available in an online course offered by Moms Demand Action. Instructors discussed mobilizing voters, fundraising and crafting a message. “Being a part of this movement is so empowering,” Becker said, fired up after the class. “You constantly hear, ‘Yes, you can do that!’” Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Gun control and arming teachers bills dead for session
Gun control proposals failed in the Alabama Legislature after most Republican committee members skipped out on Wednesday debate on the bills, including a proposal to raise the age to buy an AR-15 or similar rifle. The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee canceled a scheduled meeting after only four members, mostly Democrats, attended. The committee has 11 members. The lack of action likely kills the bills for the session. The committee inaction came a day after the House of Representatives failed to bring a Republican bill to arm teachers up for vote, also signaling the demise of that proposal. Rep. Juandalynn Givan, a Birmingham Democrat, said the lack of attendance for the gun control debate shows that Alabama lawmakers are not serious about discussing substantive changes to gun laws. “Vote it up or vote it down. Don’t be cowards. …. You can’t show up at the meeting to at least have a conversation?” Givan said. Givan referenced how students walked out of high schools across the country last week in national protests against gun violence. “Our kids walked out of school last week to take a stand, and we can’t come to a meeting to take a vote. What does that say about the leadership in the state of Alabama?” Givan’s bill would have raised the age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21. At least two legislatures, including Florida’s, approved similar measures after last month’s shooting at a Florida high school that claimed 17 lives. The committee was also scheduled to debate two other gun control bills by Democrats. One would allow judges to temporarily take firearms from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. Another was a long-shot proposal to ban sales of AR-15′s and similar weapons. The separate Republican proposal to arm teachers — another idea introduced in the wake of the Florida shooting __ also stalled in the legislative session expected to wrap up next week. The House of Representatives adjourned Tuesday without debating a bill by Republican Rep. Will Ainsworth of Guntersville that would allow designated teachers and school administrators, to carry, or access, firearms in school after undergoing training. Republican lawmakers appeared divided over the proposal that got pushback from some educators and groups such as Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. It would have also likely faced a filibuster by Democrats. House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, in a statement signaling the bills demise, said that: “I can offer a personal guarantee that this issue will be revisited when the Legislature convenes its next session.” Ainsworth said Wednesday that he believed he had the votes to narrowly clear a procedural hurdle and pass the legislation, but it faced time constraints and an expected filibuster. Ainsworth said many schools cannot afford to keep an armed law enforcement officer, known as a school resource officer, on campus. He said he and other lawmakers will sign a petition urging Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to call a special session this summer on school safety. “We’ve got over 500 schools in our state that don’t have any armed protection. In my opinion, that is an urgent need that needs to be addressed,” Ainsworth said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
House committee extends Stand Your Ground law to Alabama churches
An Alabama House committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would extend the state’s Stand Your Ground law to churches. Sponsored by Rogersville-Republican State Rep. Lynn Greer, HB34 was sent to the full House on a voice vote by the House Judiciary Committee sent. Under existing law, a person is justified in using physical force, including deadly force, in self-defense or in the defense of another person under certain conditions. And a person is legally presumed to be justified in using deadly physical force, in self-defense or the defense of another person against a person committing or attempting to commit certain specified crimes. Under Greer’s bill, a person is presumed justified in the use of physical force to defend an employee, volunteer or member of a church from assault, whether on church grounds or in a church-related activity. Greer said he introduced the bill after churches in his district asked him to sponsor the legislation due to church shootings around the country. But not everyone is in favor of the bill. Members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America opposed the bill in a public hearing last week, putting pressure on lawmakers to reject it. There, Anne Leader, leader of the Alabama Chapter of the group, argued that Stand Your Ground laws allow people to “shoot first and ask questions later.” The bill moves on the full House for consideration.
