Family Matters

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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]

As 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,

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21.5 residents in Missouri died from related injuries.

“With every person who dies in general, two more are wounded, and it's just the ripple effect of who all are impacted by that: parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, anyone who's lost a loved one is impacted by gun violence,” Terry said.

As the lockdown hit and social distancing was in place, the organization continued to meet monthly this summer using Zoom calls. Bowen said about the same number of people have shown up to the virtual meetings as they did in person, with about 20 to 30 attendees.

“The sad reality is that any moment could be a crisis for any one of our communities, and we always want to have a way for people to engage with us and take meaningful local actions,” she said.

Although many public gathering spaces are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, people living with domestic abusers or who have suicidal thoughts are at risk, Bowen said.

“I think that we have to remind ourselves about what happened when this pandemic first began to really register with us,” she said, “and that is that there was this huge spike in gun purchases and ammunition purchases, and that in combination with shelter-in-place orders has left a lot people really vulnerable.”

Following recent national news about the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police, Terry did not know of any upcoming events discussing the effects of racism on police gun violence. She said members of Moms Demand Action, which does not release its racial demographic information, informally post tips with each other about white privilege over social media.

June 6, the Missouri chapter hosted a Wear Orange Facebook Live event, in which people dressed in orange and listened to virtual speakers in solidarity against gun violence. Group members will also spend the summer doing election work, in which they will meet with legislators, rate the degree to which candidates share similar interests on gun control and try to encourage the removal of lawmakers with unfavorable gun views.

A good year for the Columbia group is when no “bad bills” are passed, Bowen said, which basically are bills calling for gun deregulations.

“One thing that's difficult in Missouri, I would say specifically, is we're always playing defense,” Terry said. “These senators and representatives propose guns everywhere, so we sort of have to go to work, and call constituents in their area and advocate why that's a bad bill.”

So, as the members of Moms Demand Action raise their children, they fight for more gun rules and education — in schools and out of it.

“We don't have to live like this,” Terry said. “Living in Missouri, I respect the gun culture on hunting, but I just feel like we don't all have to live in fear of going to school and having a school shooter or going to a movie or synagogues or churches or anywhere.”

To join, you also don’t have to be a mom; the organization accepts all members. Additionally, they have a survivor network, which anyone affected by gun violence can join.