The moms demanding responsible gun culture

Debates over gun control run wild after tragic incidents. Whatever the angle — bump stocks, mental illness, etc. — Shannon Watts says it always comes down to responsible gun culture in America.

“I don’t believe we have one anymore,” Watts told KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross. “The NRA lobbyists have chipped away at that. They have opposed all legislation that would require, for example, adults to responsibly store their firearms.”

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Watts founded Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America shortly after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. It started as a simple Facebook group, but grew to an offline effort to restore gun responsibility. She says that the group boasts a 90 percent success rate of stopping NRA bills at the state level. That’s where the group is focused — gun laws at the local level.

“We are not in any way opposed to the Second Amendment,” Watts said. “Many of our volunteers are gun owners, or are married to gun owners. This is about restoring responsibilities that go along with gun rights.”

“…If you look at the ’80s and with drunk driving, someone would kill their family before drunk driving laws and everyone would stand back and say that it was horrible, but that person has suffered enough,” she said as an example. “Then Mothers Against Drunk Driving came along and said ‘Wait a minute, if we don’t hold these people accountable for making this decision, then this is going to continue to kill innocent people.’ They stepped in, passed laws and cut drunk driving almost in half in a decade. In many states, if you leave a loaded gun on the kitchen counter and a child gets a hold of it and shoots themselves or somebody else, there is absolutely no law holding you accountable for that.”

At best, Watts said, some states have misdemeanors and fines for such incidents.

Responsible gun culture

Watts says that conversations around firearms and responsible gun culture often erupt after tragic shootings — many that involve assault rifles such as AR-15s. But that’s not where her organization has placed much of its energy. Rather, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America talk more about handguns, or laws that would restrict firearm access from people who should not use them.

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“When we talk about these shootings, we are talking about them because someone used a semiautomatic rifle and was able to kill many people at once,” Watts said. “But 93 people are shot (with a handgun) every day — that’s many, many mass shootings.”

“The reality is that the gun lobby is very good at getting around assault weapon bans,” she added. “During the last ban they were able to create the exact same weapons with very small modifications and have them be readily available.”

Watts says that, currently, the NRA has another bill being considered by Congress called the Conceal-Carry Reciprocity Act. It would allow people to carry a concealed firearm across state lines.

“It’s the NRA’s dream,” Watts said. “…We have to stop that bill from passing or we will see a lot more gun violence in this country.”

Hear Dave’s full conversation with Shannon Watts here.

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