Over 100 Gun Violence Activists Head to Capitol Hill to Pursue Gun Safety

Over 100 gun violence survivors and family members of victims are heading to Capitol Hill Wednesday to kick off the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America’s second annual “Moms Take the Hill” event and Mother’s Day “Week of Action.”

Jennifer Longdon and her fiancé David Rueckert are just two people attending, after five gunshots were fired into their car as they headed to a drive-through restaurant in Phoenix after work in 2004 per USA Today. Longdon was left paralyzed from the waist down while Rueckert was blinded and left with significant brain damage.

Over 100 gun activists and moms head to Capitol Hill for a week long crusade to stop gun violence.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia

“We are taking this fight to the states,” says Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “What we want Congress to know is that we are watching them, but we are not waiting for them. We are getting ready for the midterms and we are going to hold them accountable for their failure to act.”

Mothers and Activists will be spending the upcoming week in Capitol Hill going to their representatives to make their case for universal background checks. In an effort to draw more support, members of the group have been hosting house parties in their home states, attempting to rally their neighbors to join in on the cause.

During last year’s “Moms Take the Hill” event in Capitol Hill, the group had chapters in just a handful of states. This year, however, the group claims to have sped the growth of their chapters to all 50 states.

Moms Demand Action and Mayors Against Illegal Guns recently joined together to form a new group called Everytown for Gun Safety. Last month, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged to spend $50 million this year to support the organization.

Everytown has the long-term goal of comprehensive background checks for gun buyers, enhanced protections for domestic violence victims and to address child access to guns. The group hopes to also diminish the political power of the National Rifle Association.