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Parents need to stand up to NRA

March 7, 2013

Concerned citizens just need to stand up and show our politicians what it looks like to not cower to the NRA bully.

— Carin Gordon, Walla Walla, WA

Letter To The Editor

Union-Bulletin

We have an opportunity right now to loosen the death grip of the NRA lobbyists on our country and our politicians.

We can choose to create a safer society — instead of this violent and fearful one (concocted in part by the marketing ploy of the NRA to sell more guns).

Concerned citizens just need to stand up and show our politicians what it looks like to not cower to the NRA bully. Maybe moms — who, like myself, have lost sleep since the tragedy at Sandy Hook — imagining the horror those children and staff at the school went through and worrying about our own children’s safety. Maybe you believe the experts in the media when they say there is little that can be done to predict or prevent these mass killings, maybe you don’t want to get tangled in the vitriol of gun rights vs. control.

But the parents who lost their children at Sandy Hook and the people of Newtown are asking us to make a pledge (the Sandy Hook Promise); to continue this conversation about sensible solutions to prevent violence and more importantly to put into action a plan to make our communities and country safer from similar acts.

You only need to look back through our country’s history to see the huge political sway mothers (and all women) can have on shaping our nation. Even before we were given the right to vote, women have had influence — from abolishing slavery, forming of the suffrage and temperance movements and in many other social issues involving the welfare of those underrepresented.

Women have a unique world view and we understand the importance of not just an individual’s rights, but the rights of a society and more importantly the rights of those not given a voice (as in our children). The maternal instinct to protect our children is very strong and seems to be, historically, the glue that holds a society together.

The NRA’s callous and self-serving response to the tragedy by suggesting we put guns in schools reflects their true motive — money. With public safety issues like this, we cannot let money or an individual’s right rise above the right of all — the people’s right to “domestic tranquility.” Or, in modern terms, to not turn our schools, streets and public places into “Call of Duty” shooting zones.

Please join Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Carin Gordon
Walla Walla

See letter and comments at union-bulletin.com

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