WASHINGTON – More than three years after her 9-year-old daughter was shot and killed, Roxanna Green’s heart breaks all over again when she sees another shooting on the news.
“When we laid her to rest, my heart broke,” Green said of her daughter, Christina-Taylor, one of six people killed in the Tucson shooting that wounded then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in 2011. “My heart is still broken.”
Green joined other relatives of victims from other mass shootings – some grieving for years, some for less than a month – at a news conference Tuesday where they called on Congress to take action and put an end to gun violence.
They stood tearfully, holding pictures of loved ones who were lost to gun violence – in Tucson, at Virginia Tech, at Aurora, at Newtown, at the University of California Santa Barbara and in other attacks.
Richard Martinez, whose son Christopher Michaels-Martinez was killed last month at UC Santa Barbara, cited Tom Mauser, whose son, Daniel, was killed in the 1999 Columbine shooting.
“My son Chris has been dead for 26 days, and there is a hole in my heart that nothing can fill,” Martinez said. “Daniel Mauser has been dead 15 years and what has been done?”
It was Martinez who demanded “not one more,” after his son’s death. That rallying cry was taken up by Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, who kicked off a postcard campaign demanding action from elected officials on gun violence.
They said that more than 600,000 people have signed up to send a “Not One More” postcard to their congressman, their governor and each of their senators- more than at least 2.4 million postcards in all.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., is one of those targeted in the campaign, with the two groups pledging to deliver the postcards to his Phoenix office Friday.
Flake could not be contacted for comment Tuesday, but his office released a statement citing his support of past legislation calling for background checks on gun buyers.
“In order to ensure background checks include those with mental health issues, Sen. Flake is an original cosponsor of legislation that would assist states and federal agencies in providing mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System,” the statement said.
Green serves on the advisory board of Everytown for Gun Safety, which said it supports reforms that respect the Second Amendment and protect people. She said Tuesday that she has been comforted by the growing number of Americans who have united to end gun violence.
“I have dedicated my life to help keep other families from suffering this horrific pain,” she said.
Speakers expressed hope Tuesday that they may see some progress made on gun legislation before the end of this year.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was quoted in published reports last week saying that bipartisan gun background-check legislation could be brought back up again this year.
The Senate voted 54-46 last year in a procedural vote for the so-called Manchin-Toomey bill, which needed 60 votes to pass.
Calls to the National Rifle Association seeking comment were not immediately returned.
But Green said it is time for Congress to act.
“Not one more parent should have to wonder who their child would have grown up to be,” she said. “And not one more politician should vote with the NRA instead of with American families.”
(via Cronkite News Service/By Miranda Rivers)
This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2014.
GOP has outrage over four killed in Benghazi.
Where is their outrage over the 30 plus Americans killed by guns everyday?
Yes, there would still be killings if all guns are removed from civilization, but guns sure make mass killings a whole lot easier.
Gun’s don’t kill people, “people” kill people… You liberal douche bags won’t be happy until the whole population is completely helpless… The citizens of this nation have the right to defend themselves, disarming them will cause more harm than good. Do you think criminals out to rob you are going to turn in their guns?…. An armed citizenry is the last line of defense, if the public were to be disarmed, we would be completely helpless, street gangs, drug dealers, and rogue elements of authority would walk all over us…. Is that the kind of world you want to live in? If you want to do something about gun violence, exercise your second amendment rights by purchasing a fire arm, and learning how to use it safely and effectively… Take some responsibility, and quit whining to government to hold your hand, and tuck you in at night! Bitch!
Not sure what people have against gun nuts after reading the above comment.
There’s too much money to be made feeding the paranoia of the gun nuts for there ever to be sensible regulations.
Smith & Wesson is a publicly held company and our government has an obligation to serve their shareholders.
Dearest Room 101:
You display the trifecta…
Paranoid
Gun Zealot
and
Classy.
In case you didn’t get it, the latter is my attempt at irony. Nothing like living up to the stereotype.
I find it funny that the anti-gun zealots think that passing more gun laws will protect us, news flash, it’s against the law to commit murder of any way or means. Second there are over 140 thousand gun laws on the books now, goes to show that the criminals don’t give a rats ass about any laws. But as a society we have become so weak on enforcing the laws and death penalty that it stinks. We used to hang people for cow rustling now we glorify murders and feel sorry for them and quickly forget about the victim(s). And let’s not forget Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston’s bombing that did a hell of a lot more destruction than any gun.
The first, legally armed and trained individual on the scene of the Giffords shooting was a store customer with a concealed carry permit {CCW}. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again that registering the owners is the easier answer. Those who have CCWs have consented to greater background scrutiny than is being recommended for gun purchases. Coupled with required her training attitudes toward gun ownership responsibilities by gun owners would dramatically change. Consider the attitude of an entire nation evidenced in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nf1OgV449…
In my forty years of gun ownership the guns have always been stored in a secluded place and the ammo stored separately.
The US is a violent nation and far too many die every day from gunshots. Yes, we do need new gun laws, however unlikely such legislation is to be enacted into law.
But let’s focus instead on the tens of thousands who die every year in violent acts and from preventable accidents and blatant parental irresponsibility which make up the vast majority of gun-related deaths. By focusing the attention on the tiny percentage of victims of the most horrible mass murders we inevitably turn the discussion to mental health issues afflicting alienated young men who bought weapons legally or stole them from their parents’homes. Young men who were known to school counselors and teachers, campus police and here in Tucson to the Pima County Sheriff. Which proposed laws would have prevented these horrible events?
The 65 kids shot dead in Chicago this year deserve attention too. So let’s pass gun control laws that address the underlying causes of the overwhelming majority of murders. That is where new legislation might actually succeed in reducing deaths by gunshot. Focusing on mass shootings by criminally insane psychopaths misses the point and results in finger pointing – well deserved – at the nexus of ineffectual parents, mental health professionals, educators and public safety officials who did nothing to stop the carnage.