Even though the march was on track, time
seemed to be running in short supply; there just weren't enough hours in
the day to take care of everything that needed to be done, and as march
day drew near, I was stretched even further with more and more requests
to do interviews and make speeches. I would usually just write up some thoughts
and hope for the best. But I was slated to speak at the Conference of Mayors,
and this gave me a terrible case of public-speaking panic. I was also --
on the same day -- slated to appear on
Good Morning America, and
this would be the MMM's debut on this show. Even though I dreaded live TV,
there wasn't much I had to prepare for. I had my four or five key bullet
points down cold, and I was getting pretty adept at getting these points
out, no matter how little time I had. It was a trick I had learned from
watching my old boss, Senator Long, in action. The GMA interview would be
over in 4 minutes, tops. But the Conference of Mayors was expecting a lot
more from me than a few minutes and a handful of sound bites.
It was now 2 A.M. I was supposed to be up
and out by 6 A.M. to get to the ABC studios. From there I'd have to get
to Atlantic City by 9 A.M. for the conference. So much for getting some
sleep, let alone having a speech prepared. It wasn't looking good.
I sat at my computer trying -- but failing
-- to put together a coherent speech.
I was exhausted from the kids, depressed
about the state of my marriage, and overwhelmed by the details of the Million
Mom March. I couldn't think of anything remotely inspirational to say.
I stared at the computer for about an hour,
thinking that maybe if I just looked at it hard enough, the words would
suddenly appear. When that didn't work, I procrastinated by praying and
saying, "Please, please, somebody help me," while I pulled out my hair.
It must have worked, because an e-mail popped up from a man from Virginia
named Bill Jenkins, who is the author of a book called What to Do When
the Police Leave: A Guide to the First Days of Traumatic Loss.
Once I read Bill's letter, I knew what I
would say at the Conference of Mayors. I printed his letter, put it in my
bag, and went to bed that night with a sense of peace and readiness. I don't
remember much about the GMA interview, but I do remember the mayors. I read
Bill's letter to them. It was the first time in my life I was given a standing
ovation.
Dear Donna:
I am a college professor and an unwilling
expert on the effects of firearms on our society. Two and a half years ago,
I benignly believed the gun lobby's lines, and why not? I grew up in a house
with hunting guns and learned how to shoot. My rural family members hunt
regularly, and my brother is a competition shooter in his spare time. I
naively thought that was the extent of the interaction with guns in my life.
Then, my 16-year-old son was murdered
-- while he was working at his new job at a fast-food restaurant -- by a
man with a handgun, during a robbery. I began researching the instrument
of his destruction and tore back the cardboard facades and specious claims
of the gun industry. I looked closely at the economics and marketing practices
of an industry that has enjoyed enormous protection throughout its history.
My conclusions shocked and sickened me.
With 250 million guns in society today,
more than I million hand- guns alone are placed in circulation every year
for a legitimate market of merely 60 to 65 million private gun owners. Hundreds
of gun laws have been cobbled together by various localities in a desperate
effort to protect themselves, yet these are often trumped by state laws
where lobbying efforts are more focused and well-financed. Indeed, no concerted
legislative action has ever been allowed to adversely affect the industry's
bottom line directly. Instead, attention is diverted to post sale issues
of possession and use. I see a silent and insidious third party to the issue,
the one who built the fence between the vocal factions and those whose primary
goal is to keep the argument raging for their own economic benefit. I see
an industry that has allowed itself to be seduced by the easy money of a
burgeoning illegitimate market. It resists voluntarily marketing products
ethically and responsibly, incorporating sensible safety measures, establishing
specific training requirements for buyers, and even guaranteeing that the
purchaser of these products will he the end user.
A brief history is in order. In the 1970s and 1980s, facing a rapidly saturating
market and foreign competition, the gun industry seems to have reinvented
itself. It doesn't require much effort to observe the following unethical,
yet profitable practices: It began marketing military and police-style weapons
to private citizens, firearms which are not for defense, nor sport, but
are for attack and urban warfare. It began following the market trends of
the illegitimate market, incorporating features that appeal to the criminal
user. It began capitalizing on a growing attitude of uneasiness and paranoia
in society, supplying a false and dangerous hope for protection from people
using their products, effectively profiting from both sides at once. And
it began manufacturing product far beyond any reasonable ability to sell
it to the limited legitimate market. Make no mistake, this small group of
people has benefited greatly and has blatantly used their profits to perpetuate
their commercial and legal protection.
Who has suffered? The sportsmen and sportswoman
have suffered as the reputation of something they have dearly loved and
enjoyed has been ruined by irresponsible marketing, sales, and use. The police
have suffered, having been shot at and ambushed by those with more firepower
than any officer has ever carried. Families have suffered as children find
a gun and kill unwittingly, or guns bought ostensibly for protection are
turned on another family member or self. Society has suffered as ready access
to a limitless supply of disposable guns enables and emboldens criminals.
Our state legislatures have suffered as rural interests are pitted against
urban interests by manipulating lobbyists. The gun industry has truly soiled
its own nest. Sadly, it is our nest also.
Despite claims to the contrary, our children
are not being sacrificed on the altar of personal freedom and protection.
Our children are not being sacrificed on the altar of constitutional rights.
Our children are not being sacrificed on the altar of patriotic, democratic,
and lifestyle values. Our children are not being sacrificed on the altar
of any ideology whatsoever. No, our children are being sacrificed on an
altar dedicated to nothing more than base profit and commerce. And that
I will not excuse.
In 1997, my son was one of more than 20
homicide victims in our county in Virginia. He was one of 115 Virginia children
and teens who die from firearm use and misuse. He was one of 902 Virginians
of all ages who, met their end at the barrel of a gun. And one of the 32,436
Americans who died with a bullet in them that year.
From 1990 to today, more than 9,700 people
in Virginia and more than 343,000 people nationwide have been killed with
firearms. And for every firearm-related mortality, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention estimates another three people have received nonfatal
injuries.
Want to have some more fun with numbers?
Let's say that each of those fatalities in the past 10 years has between
five and six close family members or intimate friends in their lives, and
that is a low estimate, That is nearly 2 million grieving parents, siblings,
grandparents, children, spouses, and best friends, and I am one of them,
and perhaps some of you are, too.
There are two ways to hunt. In one, the
hunter takes time to learn of the quarry and its habits and life, The hunter
enters the forest alone and tracks the quarry for hours or even days, hoping
for a clear shot. This is how the gun industry has been fought in the past.
Dedicated lawyers and lobbyists who have learned its every move have been
fighting one-on-one. Sometimes they have gotten clear shots and scored minor
victories.
But there is another way to hunt, and
while less elegant, it is far more effective. The entire village enters
the forest. Not highly trained, just willing participants. They beat the
brush, driving the quarry to open ground, and surround it, and the hunt
is over.
On Mother's Day, the village enters the
forest.
The Million Mom March will succeed through
honest education of the facts, unflagging determination, and a sincere desire
to bring about change. I believe and lay my hopes on this. And if the Million
Mom March is not successful this year, next year perhaps the 2 Million Mom
March will be, and the next year, perhaps the 3 Million Mom March will be.
For this is an effort that will not easily be turned aside.
We have the right to demand action. We
have a right to demand safety. And above all, we have a right to demand
peace. I am in awe of the success of your determined efforts to make these
demands known. I appreciate it more than you could ever know. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Bill Jenkins,
The Million Mom March -- Virginia
Thank me? No. Thank you, Bill. Bill Jenkins
went on to enlist other Virginians to charge into "the forest" of Washington,
D.C., on Mother's Day 2000. He later married a Million Mom Marcher from
Illinois, and they both live there now.
Copyright © 2004 Donna Dees-Thomases