The mass shootings continue. What can we do?

These groups work on many levels. They advocate for gun safety, including for expanded background checks. They lobby for laws, policies, and programs to reduce gun violence. They support litigation, the closing of legal loopholes, and greater accountability. And they work on a wide range of community-education and empowerment programs. 

All three organizations were born of intensely personal experiences of gun violence. 

Giffords was founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt, and her husband Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and now a U.S. Senator from Arizona. Giffords resigned from Congress as a result of her severe injuries and devoted her life to preventing gun violence. Giffords uses their combined legislative experience to further its political objectives, and the organization includes both a Law Center and a PAC. Donate HERE.

Brady (formerly Handgun Control, Inc) was founded by Jim Brady, former White House Press Secretary and survivor of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, and his wife Sarah. Paralyzed by the attack, Jim Brady subsequently lobbied Congress to pass the Brady Background Check (Brady Law), which was signed into law by President Clinton. The law requires background checks on all handgun purchases conducted by federally-licensed gun dealers. Donate HERE.

Everytown for Gun Safety was formed by a merger of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (cofounded by mayors Mike Bloomberg and Thomas Menino) and Mothers Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (founded by a mother of five, Shannon Watts, following the Sandy Hook tragedy). The two mayors, appalled by gun violence in their cities, organized dozens of other mayors across the country. Mothers Demand Action has been a highly visible and active component of the organization, recently joined by Students Demand Action. Donate HERE.

Work at the local level.

We as individuals CAN change laws! I learned this from personal experience. In the early 1980s, before I was an activist, I was a mom who was deeply worried by what I saw outside my window every school morning. We lived alongside a lake, and the young children would be waiting there for the schoolbus with duck hunters shooting at ducks in the reeds just beyond the children. The police told me they could do nothing — there were no laws against it. 

At the advice of a friend, I called Handgun Control, Inc (now Brady). HGI was encouraging and helped me come up with a detailed game plan of how to change the law. Point 1 was to enlist allies! To my surprise, my biggest ally ended up being the town’s police chief. The second best was a local clergyman who had been a sniper in Vietnam. He had a great deal of experience with firearms as well as people. We all went to our town meeting, where we spoke our parts. And we won! To this day, there is a law in Tewksbury: “No discharge of firearms within town limits.” 

My point in telling this story is that help is available. You don’t have to act alone. And you shouldn’t be afraid to act! It may be easier than you think. 

Call your U.S. senators

Let your senators know that you want changes in gun laws NOW. The gun safety organization Everytown for Gun Safety has provided a website to help you get your message across to your elected officials. 

Calls and messages really work! Read about the conservative Senator from Wyoming, a heavily pro-gun state, rethinking her position after being flooded by calls from constituents urging gun safety action.

The stakes are high, so don’t give up. Please do whatever you can. You don’t have to go it alone. We’re all in this together. 

_{Banner image (CC BY-SA 2.0) Michael Saechang}