By Jessica Wehrman, The Columbus Dispatch
WASHINGTON — On the day after the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a measure expanding background checks to private gun sales, three Columbus-area moms came to Washington to deliver a message to Congress: Keep going.
“We’re not going to let up,” said Trina Donley, 66, of Clintonville. “We’re not going anywhere. I will not forget the children from Newtown.”
She joined Kelly Cameron, 52, of Columbus, and Cathy Tucker, 69, of northwest Columbus — three of 250 members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, an organization that formed to push gun-control legislation after the massacre of 26, including 20 children, at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., in December.
Cameron, the mother of four college-age kids, attended the Million Moms March in 2000. When she heard about Newtown, “I was sick to my stomach.”
“It occurred to me that nothing had changed except the weapons had gotten worse,” she said. “And I had done nothing.”
She organized the Columbus chapter of the organization. The trio met with staff for both Ohio senators as well as staff for Reps. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Township, and Brad Wenstrup, R-Cincinnati. They also attended a news conference with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other lawmakers.
Their visit was timely — on Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed, on party lines, a measure that would expand the use of background checks to private gun sales. The committee also passed a bill to renew and increase funding for a grant program that helps schools improve security.
The committee will vote on a proposal to reinstate the assault-weapons ban today. After that, all three measures must go to the Senate for a floor vote.
Read the entire story at dispatch.com
