Parents Should Not Have to Doubt Their Children's Safety in School

It's not about banning all guns, it's about gun safety

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By Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner

, Cofounder and CEO of MomsRising

December 19, 2012

About Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner:

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner is the cofounder and CEO of MomsRising, a grassroots activist group for women, mothers, and families.

Earlier this year I got a call from my children's school in Seattle that they were in lockdown. A mass shooting had happened nearby and they hadn't yet found the gunman. My son called me from under his desk using a friend's cell phone to tell me what was going on.

Thankfully my kids were fine. But the 20 children and six adults who faced a gunman in Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday weren't.

There have been 16 mass shootings this year in the United States alone that have risen to the level of national news, as well as many mass shootings that don't ever make it into the national dialogue. In fact, each day 34 people are murdered with guns in our nation. This is not okay.

This cannot become the new normal. Parents shouldn't have to hesitate, even slightly, wondering if our kids will be safe when we drop them off at school, the mall, or the movies.

[See a collection of editorial cartoons on the Newtown shooting.]

It's time for a change.

At MomsRising we're hearing from our more than one million members that they're tired of outdated gun safety laws that fail to protect our children and our communities. People are coming together to stand behind the following principles:

Universal background checks are needed for all gun purchases, including those purchased at gun shows and on the Internet.
An assault weapon ban, which also limits high capacity magazines, is necessary. Banning rifle mags, belts, and drums with more than 10 rounds of ammunition; handgun magazines, belts, or drums with more than 15 rounds; shotgun magazines, belts, or drums with more than 10 rounds; and any firearm that has a fixed capacity of more than 10 rounds of ammunition must happen now.
A federal gun trafficking statute with real penalties must be put in place to stop the illegal sales of guns between state-to-state and international jurisdictions. This would also cover straw purchasers, who buy a gun for someone else who is prohibited from purchasing a gun and later uses the gun to commit a crime.

[See a collection of political cartoons on gun control and gun rights.]

This isn't about banning all guns; this is about gun safety and making sure that nonmilitary people don't have weapons for mass killing in public spaces and near our children.

It's long past time for Congress to act. Our nation needs commonsense laws that regulate the types of guns people can buy and who can buy them. And the National Rifle Association either needs to get on board or step aside. The very lives of our children depend upon it.