I was on City Council when a man shot and killed his wife and children just six blocks from my home. I was horrified, saddened and felt somehow that I had failed them. Then and there I decided that I would try to find ways to help prevent this from happening in my town again. I reached out to some of the organizations that are aiding women who are abused. At a conference on family violence experts from all over the country discussed the causes, effect and solutions to violence against women. While attending, some of us visited an intake facility where victims are taken. I saw the room where the women are examined and photos are taken of their bruised and broken bodies. Security is tight, because abusers often return until they have their kill. They are like rabid dogs. I left there, shaken, and returned home sickened by what I had been exposed to. Reality had set in. Here now were the unadulterated truths about the horrors of domestic and gun violence. Not in some far off place where the tragedy can't touch me and I don't have to think about it, but here in my town.
One in every four women in the U.S. will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year. Access to firearms increases the risk of intimate partner homicide more than five times more than in instances where there are no weapons. In addition, abusers who possess guns tend to inflict the most severe abuse on their partners. (And, do not exclude certain women because of borders. There are no borders when it comes to violence against women.) Make no mistake. The NRA is complicit in the slaughter of our women and children. The NRA has consistently opposed legislation that would limit domestic abusers' access to firearms, claiming that efforts in this area could lead to "sweeping and arbitrary infringement on the right to keep and bear arms."
We have to push back against the culture of guns that is striking down the hopes and dreams of too many of our fellow Americans while so many more live in fear of those who are armed and dangerous. We can no longer turn a blind eye or remain passive. It's going to take all of us to halt the violence engulfing our country. So, this is my story. I have taken a journey into the belly of the Beast and have come out the other side more determined than ever to advocate for the helpless and the abused. This is my creation, this is my story. NRA.
I was on City Council when a man shot and killed his wife and children just six blocks from my home. I was horrified, saddened and felt somehow that I had failed them. Then and there I decided that I would try to find ways to help prevent this from happening in my town again.
I was on City Council when a man shot and killed his wife and children just six blocks from my home. I was horrified, saddened and felt somehow that I had failed them. Then and there I decided that I would try to find ways to help prevent this from happening in my town again.
