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FAMILY MATTERS Moms Demand Action mixes parenting with push for gun reform BY ELENA K. CRUZ Columbia Daily Tribune
Members of the local chapter of Moms Demand Action pose at a monthly meeting held in-person before the coronavirus pandemic moved the meetings online. [COURTESY KRISTIN BOWEN]
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s the founder of the Columbia group of Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America discussed the organization’s summer plans, she made sure to sit far from her son and disconnect her phone from wi-fi. He was taking his AP Spanish exam online, and as a conscientious mom, she didn’t want to interfere. Kristin Bowen, also the deputy chapter leader for Missouri Moms Demand Action, is one of the group’s many members blending parenting with the fight for gun regulations. The Columbia group is one of 20 in the state, and since 2015, it has worked with legislators and community members to reduce gun violence. “We support the Second Amendment, and we support the culture in Missouri,” Columbia group spokesperson Catey Terry said. “But there just are some common-sense gun laws that can make us all safer, and that's what Moms is fighting for.” Originally Moms Demand Action began as a group asking for gun regulations within schools. It was created in 2012 following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, according to the national organization’s Facebook page, but now has a broader scope. According to a 2019 Moms Demand Action one-pager, the organization calls for: • A stricter background check system • Red flag laws and safe storage of firearms • More education for law enforcement officers and funding toward research about gun violence • Preventing domestic abusers from owning a gun Almost 40,000 people died from gunrelated injuries in the United States in 2017 alone, according to the Pew Research Center. For every 100,000 people,
