Gun Law Reform & Mom’s Demand Action
I was able to ask Moms Demand Action questions about gun law reform in America. Their responses gave me insight into this topic in a way that I have never looked at it before.
What are your general thoughts and opinions on gun reform/safety? What are your thoughts about gun safety and the 2nd amendment? What forms of gun safety do you support?
Moms Demand Action is a grassroots, non-partisan movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence and keep our families safe.
We work with survivors, mayors, law enforcement officers, faith leaders, educators, gun owners, doctors and communities across the country who know there is more we can do to prevent gun violence. We do this work because every day 100 Americans die from gun violence and hundreds more are wounded. Gun violence is the second leading cause of death for American children and teens overall and the first leading cause of death for Black children and teens.
The daily toll of gun violence in America doesn’t always make headlines, but this violence affects everyone, everywhere. It strikes big cities, small towns and rural communities.
We can support responsible gun ownership while doing much more to keep guns out of the wrong hands and create a culture of gun safety. That’s why we advocate for the following, evidence-based policies to keep our families and communities safe:
Keeping Guns Out of the Wrong Hands – A Better Background Check System. Lawmakers need to close loopholes in the system, such as those that allow people to buy guns at gun shows or online without a background check.
Protecting Kids and Communities – Supporting Red Flag Laws and Responsible Access to Firearms. To keep our families safe from mass shootings and reduce gun suicides, lawmakers must pursue policies like Red Flag laws, which allow family and law enforcement to intervene if someone poses a threat to themselves or others, before deadly tragedies involving firearms take place. Lawmakers must also limit easy access to firearms and accessories capable of inflicting mass casualties and encourage safe and responsible storage of all guns.
Addressing America’s Uniquely Lethal Domestic Abuse Problem – Disarming Domestic Abusers. More than half of women murdered with guns in America are killed by an intimate partner or family member, and women are five times more likely to be killed in a domestic confrontation when a gun is present. Lawmakers must strengthen laws that help keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
Combating Daily Gun Violence – Supporting Research, Law Enforcement and Local Solutions. Our government needs to support law enforcement, researchers and local communities in their efforts to combat daily gun violence by funding new research into gun violence; community-driven, evidence-based interventions to curb city gun violence; and new tools to help law enforcement collect evidence, trace all crime guns, reduce trafficking and solve gun crimes.
It’s time for our government to enact common-sense gun laws supported by the overwhelming majority of Americans. And if our elected officials choose not to act, we will mobilize voters to replace them with leaders who will.
How important do you believe mental illness is when discussing this issue? Do you believe in giving mental health screenings to people that want to obtain a firearm? Why or why not?
Every country in the world struggles with mental illness. But America’s gun homicide rate is more than 25 times the average of other high-income countries. Women in the US are 21 times more likely to be killed with a gun than women in other high-income countries. It's about easy access to guns.
How do you think we can break the divide in this country when it comes to this topic?
We can start by debunking some of the common myths propagated by the gun lobby. For example:
1)Myth: More guns = less crime.
Fact: If more guns made us safer, the U.S. would be the safest country in the world. Instead, we have a gun homicide rate 25 times higher than other developed countries. Research has found that the U.S. accounted for only 46 percent of the population of those countries, but accounted for over 80 percent of the gun deaths. The United States has a gun violence crisis. For every two people injured with a gun, one is killed. We must do more to keep guns out of the hands of people with dangerous histories and enact strong, commonsense gun laws, which go hand in hand with the Second Amendment.
2) Myth: Federal law prohibits ALL domestic abusers from having guns.
Fact: Federal law prohibits abusers convicted of felony and misdemeanor domestic violence crimes and those subject to domestic violence restraining orders from having guns. However, federal law generally does not cover abusive dating partners. This is often called the ‘boyfriend loophole’. Federal law also does not cover convicted stalkers nor does it require that offenders turn in the guns they already have. Legislation to close some of these loopholes is pending before Congress. States are also recognizing that more must be done to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. Since 2012, 25 states plus the District of Columbia have strengthened their laws to keep guns away from domestic abusers.
3) Myth: Strong gun laws don’t work. Look at Chicago.
Fact: While no single law can prevent all gun violence, research shows that strong gun laws do work. Further, evidence shows that Chicago is subject to the consequences of other states’ weak gun laws. A study found that 60 percent of guns recovered from crime scenes in Chicago came from out of state, particularly from states with weak gun laws, like Indiana and Mississippi.
4) Myth: A small child cannot pull a trigger.
Fact: According to research by Everytown for Gun Safety, when it comes to unintentional shootings by children, toddlers (ages 2 to 4) are at the greatest risk of shooting themselves with an unsecured gun. Every year, nearly 300 children age 17 and under, gain access to a gun and unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else, and nearly 500 more die by suicide with a gun. Many of these deaths are entirely preventable with responsible gun storage. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has developed the Be SMART gun safety program to help parents and other adults prevent child gun deaths and injuries. The campaign encourages parents and gun owners to follow these simple steps:
Secure all guns in your home and vehicles.
Model responsible behavior around guns.
Ask about the presence of unsecured guns in others’ homes.
Recognize the risks of teen suicide.
Tell your peers to be SMART
5) Myth: “Concealed Carry Reciprocity” will create a national standard for who can carry concealed guns in public.
Fact: Concealed Carry Reciprocity does not create a national standard for who can carry loaded, concealed guns in public. Rather, it forces states to recognize standards from every other state, making the weakest standard the law of the land, allowing criminals and other people who pose a danger to public safety to carry loaded, concealed guns across the country
6) Myth: The NRA wants to deregulate gun silencers to protect sportsmen’s hearing.
Fact: Silencers actually make hunting more dangerous; widely available ear protection works better to protect hearing. It’s not public health that would benefit from the sale of silencers, but the silencer market, which is one of the fastest-growing markets in the firearm industry
7) Myth: Criminals will always find a way to get their hands on a gun.
Fact: Background checks stop gun sales to criminals every single day. In fact, in the last 20 years alone, background check laws have blocked more than 3 million gun sales to people who could not legally own guns. Until 2007, Missouri required that a person pass a background check before buying a handgun. After repealing this requirement, Missouri saw a significant increase in illegal gun trafficking and a 25 percent increase in gun homicides.
8) Myth: Mass shooters target “gun-free zones.”
Fact: There is no evidence that shooters target these areas. Everytown for Gun Safety research has shown that 10 percent of mass shootings since 2009 have in fact happened in so called ‘gun free’ zones. In fact, the vast majority of mass shootings(where 4 or more people are shot and killed) —63 percent—took place entirely in private homes.
9) Myth: Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
Fact: That’s why we fight so hard to keep guns out of the hands of people with dangerous histories. We are not anti-gun, we’re pro-gun safety. We know that commonsense laws do keep people such as domestic abusers and violent criminals from having guns can save lives.
How do you think Gen-Z can be the change?
You can educate yourself and others. You can advocate for evidence based policies to keep everyone safe. You can also join Students Demand Action and organize yourselves to be more effective.
