Moms Demand Action is a grassroots organization that was formed by Shannon Watts, a stay at home mom of 5 kids and former communications executive. She started a Facebook group the day after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. The organization is now in all 50 states, with millions of members.
One Moms group in Oregon has created the ‘Mother of all Workarounds.” After their legislators refused to take action on a safe gun storage bill, the Moms brought their request to a local Board of Education (BOE). The group successfully lobbied the BOE to pass a resolution to promote safe storage through offering gun locks and education at school events. Genius, isn’t it, to work around the legislators who refused to take action and instead work with local BOEs to keep our kids safe at home and at school?
Read their story below:
Moms Demand Action decided that after the Republicans staged a walk out during the long session of the Oregon State Legislature, they needed a plan. In 2019 Republican Senators killed legislation that would have required secure storage of firearms. Despite assurances that a similar bill would be brought before the Oregon legislature during the 2020 short session, moms knew they should prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
So this time, some of the Moms who live in the Lake Oswego School District contacted their local school board president and he recommended bringing a resolution urging safe storage before the school board. Below is the resolution that passed unanimously and the speech that was given by the Lake Oswego/Tualatin Moms Chapter Lead, Megan Busbee. Pictured with Megan is the Lake Oswego/Tualatin Legislative Lead, Teri Mills, a nurse, and also President of the National Nursing Network Organization. The other picture features the lead of the Lake Oswego/Tualatin BE SMART program, Katie Spurlock, and her two young daughters.
Megan, Katie, and Teri are committed to helping others around the country write and present similar resolutions before their school boards. Just before COVID-19 broke out, all three were planning to attend a Safety Symposium to review the importance of secure storage and provide free gun locks to all attendees who requested these.
