Local Moms band together to raise Awareness on the Boardwalk for Gun Violence
Mom's Demand Action
DELAWARE- The First weekend in June marks National Gun Violence Awareness. Local organizations are taking to the streets like Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety in America, which formed a local chapter in Delmarva 2 years ago. Mom’s Demand Action started in 2012 after the tragedy of Sandy Hook, and now, has chapters across all 50 states. Members of the organization volunteers say the goal is to prevent gun violence in America.
Tragedy can strike in many ways and leave you broken and asking why. Marcy Maxwell describes the devastating details of her son’s death. “I am here because I have lost 2 sons to gun violence… I lost my son Brian 39 years ago when he was 18, and he killed himself. And then my son Matthew 34 years ago, when, he was killed randomly by somebody who had to do it for a gang.”
Unfortunately, Marcy’s story is much too common. Dee McLaughlin has also experienced loss to gun violence. She tells us why she supports Mom’s Demand Action and says the objective of the organization- to quote ‘make guns safe, not take them away.’ “I’m here because I lost my great-niece and nephew to gun violence over the Martin Luther King Weekend- 24. This year. They were killed by their father… I just wanted to appeal to families out there who like me, would watch the news about somebody killing somebody and domestic violence and all this- and we’d say, ‘Not in my family.’ You just don’t pay real attention to it because you think it’ll never happen to you.”
Marcy says that this is still painful, but sometimes this work just makes it hurt a little bit less. “I still miss my boys every day, they’d be in their late 50s now, and I picture them with their girlfriends and little kids… When something comes up, like the anniversary of their death, it’s always right here, it’s right, where I would, I carried them. There’s just this whole, this massive hole.”
Gun violence is all too often something that affects a community as a whole. Sherrie Walker is the Membership lead for the chapter. In, 2013 they started to wear orange after a teenager was killed in Chicago. “It’s a public health emergency, and it’s affected my life, I’ve had students die by gun violence, friends, children of friends… We wear orange, because orange is the color that hunters and hikers wear in the woods to increase visibility and reduce accidental shootings. And we wear orange to say don’t shoot me!”
While the deaths do continue to happen, those who are fighting to save lives say they will never give up. Sherrie says there is much to be done, “Over 44,000 people die America, over 800 every year in Delaware and Maryland, and it doesn’t have to be this way, we can change things, we can make it safer.”
The women who shared were not only brave, but were willing to re-live their emotional trauma, so that their lived experience could possibly inspire moms to speak out and help encourage gun owners to be safe and persuade elected officials to demand stricter gun safety laws. Organizers say this weekend all over the country, supporters will be wearing orange, and participating in gun violence awareness marches and events.
