Wisconsin News Connection is here.
The group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America says ordinary people can make a change to help end gun violence in the United States.
The group maintains the time to act is now on stronger gun laws and policies to protect children. Jennifer Rosen Heinz, the group's Madison leader, says the reaction to massacres like the one last week at a Florida high school leaves people cynical about creating change. But she says that view only enables those who support the status quo. "Our cynicism is serving them," she states.
"As long as they keep us feeling as though we cannot do anything, we will not do anything. And they should be afraid of us - not because we're armed, but because more people agree with us." Rosen Heinz says her group is nonpartisan and supports the Second Amendment, but is pushing for what she calls reasonable legislation, and supporting politicians who advocate putting reasonable restrictions on certain types of gun ownership. In her words, "For too long, the gun lobby has dominated the conversation about gun violence." She's also convinced that the Moms Demand Action group is making a difference. "Our organization, in the recent elections in Virginia, we outspent the NRA," she points out. "We out-hustled the NRA. And our candidates - all of the candidates that we endorsed - got elected. And that was a sea change in Virginia."
The Wisconsin Moms group is planning a lobby day in April. Rosen Heinz says she and other mothers will spend the day at the State Capitol having 15-minute conversations with legislators. "And essentially lay out what our positions are, what legislation we know they have in the hopper, what our views on those would be, and hope to engage with them in meaningful conversation about where we can find commonality," she states.
The only gun legislation pending in Wisconsin right now is a bill (SB 169) that would allow anyone in the state to carry a concealed weapon.
