Friday, Oct. 14, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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With just weeks to go before one of the most consequential midterm elections in American history, the airwaves are flooded with images of candidates brandishing guns, our social media feeds are filled with declarations that the Second Amendment is under siege, and many political rallies have been dominated by rhetoric that undermines our democracy.
It’s all extremist hot air. These candidates want us to believe our government and anyone working to mitigate the effect of America’s gun violence epidemic are hell-bent on taking away your rights and liberties. But the reality is that gun laws save lives, and an overwhelming majority of Americans in red, blue and purple states want them.
Amid a gun violence crisis that kills 110 Americans each day and wounds 200 more, poll after poll shows Americans believe gun safety reforms are in the best interest of their families and communities. Gun policy is the No. 2 issue for all voters, according to a recent Pew Research poll, and 71% of Americans in an August AP-NORC poll said gun laws should be stricter, including nearly half of Republicans, an overwhelming majority of Democrats and a majority of people in gun-owning households.
These gun safety measures aren’t controversial — they’re basic, commonsense policies proven to keep families safe. Things like ensuring gun owners know how to store their firearms securely (locked, unloaded and separate from ammunition); empowering families to use the courts to act on warning signs and temporarily remove guns from a loved one in crisis; and making sure that anyone who buys a gun can pass a simple background check.
These aren’t ploys to take away rights — and our grassroots fight for gun safety has nothing to do with being anti-gun or anti-Second Amendment. Many of our volunteers are gun owners or live in households with guns. It’s simply about restoring the responsibilities that gun owners and non-gun owners support to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others — and that work has never been more urgent.
In cities across the country, gun homicides and suicides have soared. Guns are now the leading cause of death for children and teens in America. And this past school year was the deadliest in recorded history, with more instances of gunfire on school grounds than ever before. If we know what works to keep our families safe, we have a moral imperative to do it.
Consider this: We follow the law of the land and buckle our babies into car seats and make our kids wear helmets on their bikes to keep them safe. We keep household cleaners locked up around children and restrict who can buy certain medicines to safeguard them from poisoning and overdose. And we ensure our teens know the rules of the road and pass their driver’s test before handing them the keys to the family car.
These are practical, reasonable steps we take every day to keep our families safe. They do not impede our quality of life or our fundamental constitutional rights. Safety when it comes to firearms shouldn’t be the exception to the rule. Law-abiding gun owners don’t mind commonsense gun laws because they know they can follow them. And no one has more respect for the power and responsibility of wielding a firearm than gun owners themselves.
Heading into the midterm elections, there is a lot of rhetoric about what divides us. But my fellow Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers and I are focusing instead on what unites us — and no matter whether we live in big cities or small towns, red states or blue, we want to keep our families safe from violence. That’s why we’re committed to canvassing, campaigning and phone banking for gun sense candidates up and down the ballot — Democrats and Republicans — who will join us in our fight to save lives.
By fanning the flames of civil unrest and danger in our communities while simultaneously opposing policies that are proven to save lives, it’s clear that the politicians showing off guns in their campaign ads would rather cash the gun industry’s checks than keep your family safe.
Everyone has a role to play in speaking for gun safety. When it comes time to cast your ballot this fall, use your vote and voice to say enough is enough. This is about taking back our safety and freedom, not taking people’s guns.
Shannon Watts is the founder of Moms Demand Action and the author of “Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World.” She wrote this for InsideSources.com.
