If you live in America, it will come as no surprise that there have been over 300 mass shootings in 2022(opens in new tab) alone, and 45,222 people died in 2020 from gun-related injuries(opens in new tab). Nobody is “bulletproof” from gun violence, and women in particular have a lot at stake (opens in new tab) when it comes to fighting against gun violence. This year, Congress passed the first federal legislation on gun violence in over 25 years (it had 15 Republicans sign on to it) and hundreds of laws have been passed at the state and local levels(opens in new tab), which signals that Democrats and Republicans can come together on the issue.
“When you go back a decade ago when we started doing this work, about a quarter of all Democrats in Congress had an A rating from the NRA. Today, none do (opens in new tab),” says Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “That’s because of the work that we have done, creating relationships on both sides of the aisle and showing lawmakers that there’s an alternative—they can vote their conscience, they can do the right thing, they can carry out the will of their constituents. We need every single lawmaker to be on the right side of this issue.”
Gun owners also play a critical role in the gun policy discussion. “Most gun owners are responsible and the polling shows [that] they agree with things such as background checks, red flag laws, disarming domestic abusers, and storing your guns responsibly,” explains Watts. “Many of our volunteers are gun owners or their partners are gun owners. There are 400 million guns in this country. This is simply about restoring the responsibilities that should go along with gun rights.”
You can visit GunSenseVoter.org (opens in new tab) to see where candidates on your ballot stand on the issue. Additionally, you can find a list of Moms Demand Action volunteers (opens in new tab) running for office that are endorsed by the organization for the upcoming midterm elections.
— Rachel Epstein in What’s at Stake in the 2022 Midterm Elections
