Moms Demand Action: The Push, Not the Prayer
Students are quite literally being gunned down in their classrooms across the country and little action has been done to prevent these cases from happening again. ‘Moms Demand Action: For Gun Sense In America’ is a group put together to encourage gun owners to handle their weapons intelligently and safely especially around children. The organization believes that common sense solutions such as: universal background checks, more restriction on violent offender gun rights, safer handling of weapons, and a greater awareness of mental illness in teens can create a society that can live cohesively with guns.
Seton McIlroy, spokeswoman for one of the twelve Virginia-based Moms Demand Action chapters, spoke with CMN. She emphasized that the Moms Demand organization is a non-partisan group that has support on both sides of the political field, and hopes to be part of the conversation about gun safety and not the argument. When asked what it will take to win this fight, McIlroy told CMN that the organization, “Has already been successful in getting the message across, and the next step is to take it to the legislature.”
Which is just the greatest issue Moms Demand Action faces: the towering wall of Congress and all of its red tape decor. In Washington there is no secret that the two sides are on very opposite end of the gun safety laws. The only time an attempt at progress seems to be made is after a new tragic school shooting shocks the world.
Moms Demand Action wants to be the push that school shootings have been for so long. Seton McIlroy stated, “This is the first time needles have moved in a long time, the Parkland kids have made a huge difference and the Florida legislature has responded better than anticipated.”
McIlroy is referring to the recent bill signed by GOP Florida Governor Scott that opposes the views of the Republican party’s support for the N.R.A, making key changes to how Floridians can acquire guns. For example, the bill proposed that the age to acquire a gun be raised from 18 to 21, increased the waiting period after purchase to thee days, and banned certain modifications to weapons among other restrictions. Prior to an incident like the parkland shooting, these laws would likely have much more difficulty getting through the legislature, and Moms Demand Action has the goal to push these bills through congress before the shootings occur.
The neutral activism group is gaining ground on their mission for American citizens to handle guns properly and safely. Seton McIlroy says that the organization is one where “you can do as much as you want or as little….Men and women are a part of Moms Demand Action and we are growing, and we are winning.”
For more information, visit momsdemandaction.org.
