Now I’m part of a growing club. I’m at this club with the families of Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery who recently celebrated 10 years and 2 years without their loved ones. The club of parents who had to bury their babies. The club no one wants to belong to.
caption
US Rep. Lucy McBath
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
caption
US Rep. Lucy McBath
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Georgia is currently in a crisis of gun violence. Over the past decade, gun deaths in Georgia have increased by more than 40%. These are more parents who send their children to school and never see them come home.
Gun violence stole my son’s life, and that violence, aided and encouraged by the dangerous Stand Your Ground or Shoot First laws, has people like Jordan’s killers – and Ahmaud’s killers and Trayvon’s killers and the killers of thousands more Ever since lawmakers started passing these deadly laws brought the idea that you can shoot first and ask questions later.
These laws are linked to more than 700 additional gun deaths each year, but instead of repealing them, lawmakers here in Georgia are trying to make our community more dangerous. Right now, Gov. Brian Kemp is trying to pass Permitless Carry, a law that would allow people to carry handguns in public with no background check and no questions asked.
Law enforcement officials across the country are firmly opposed to these measures and have asked lawmakers to reject this dangerous legislation. They have expressed serious concerns that carrying them illegally would make their work even more dangerous. States that weakened their licensing systems saw double-digit percentage increases in handgun homicides and violent crime. And we know that states with weak gun laws see more gun violence.
There are no measures that can bring back those we have lost to gun violence. Only time, wisdom and the grace of God can begin to heal the pain so many families are now feeling.
Far too often we are told that we must accept these tragedies. We’re being told that instead of changing our gun laws, we need to have more active gunnery drills.
More and more first graders come home with tears in their eyes. Six-year-olds asked them to decide for themselves whether they would rather survive by hiding in a closet or rush the shooter.
More mothers are reading texts from their children locked in school, pleading, “Mom, if I can’t make it, I love you and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
But right now, millions of survivors across the country, survivors like me, are standing up and saying enough is enough. Law enforcement leaders, people of faith, doctors say we’re sick of the death these gun laws bring.
This is not a partisan issue, nearly 70% of Georgians oppose these no-wear laws, and Georgians everywhere are urging their state legislators to turn their attention to measures that would actually protect us.
Laws to improve background checks or implement federal extreme risk laws, tools that would give family members and law enforcement the ability to remove guns from the hands of those who pose a risk to themselves or others.
When Jordan was murdered, I promised that I would act, that I would take that sense of protection, that love that a mother has for her son, and use it for my community. I will be in this fight for the rest of my life, the fight to keep others out of the club that nobody wants to be part of.
It is time that legislators across Georgia join this fight with us, join this fight on behalf of every family in our state that is scared to death from pain gun violence. This is not just a political proposal, this is something survivors have lived and the lives of our loved ones are at stake.
Because I know the pain of losing a child and no one should ever have to feel that pain.
US Rep. Lucy McBath representing Ga’s 6th congressional district.
