For the week before Mother’s Day, moms
gathered on Capitol Hill for the second annual “Moms Take the Hill” event
on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Alongside gun violence survivors and family members
of gun violence victims, moms took the day to speak out against lax gun control
laws that cost their loved ones their lives.
Mothers rally for gun control laws in Hartford, CT, in 2013. Image: John Bunce |
“I am speaking out to honor the life of my daughter, who was
murdered by a man who should not have been eligible to purchase a gun,” she
said on Wednesday.
Activists like Woods are not demanding that guns be made
illegal; they’re simply asking for universal background checks to be enforced
for all potential gun buyers. Groups like Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in
America are looking to bring the gun debate to states, with chapters already
set up and growing in all 50 states.
These moms, more than anyone, have a right to demand changes
such as this. Lucia McBath’s, who lost her son Jordan to gun violence,
described the scene Wednesday on Capitol Hill: “What you see gathered here
today are moms taking the hill. We know that with the right to protect oneself
comes great responsibility,” she said. “We are in this for the long haul and we
are not backing down.”
Opposers to gun control say more laws won't help stop gun violence. Image: John Bunce |
Universal background checks could potentially hurt the
number of total gun sales in America, and many gun owners are loath to submit
to regulations that make purchasing or owning guns more difficult. NRA VP Wayne
LaPierre even likened the movement for further gun control to an “anti-freedom”
movement that will only serve to keep guns out of the hands of good people.
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