Thank you, Lane, for raising your voice in this powerful piece. We can't just adapt to this new norm of fear like a lobster heating up in a pot of water. Your piece is putting the spark under me to attend the local meetings of Moms Demand Common Sense Gun Safety. We have to keep shouting and protesting and writing letters.
Thanks for what you said about David French's urging parents to attend to their mental health. He misses the bigger picture, which you so ably capture.
My mind is racing after the news today. There needs to be a radical shift and I wish it didn’t feel insurmountable, but why aren’t articles like this on the front page of the news? How is this even up for debate? I want proof that the little efforts we make as individuals (attending meetings, donating, signing petitions, calling our reps) will result in drastic change. Because those list items are beginning to feel like “thoughts and prayers” at this point. I can’t wait until 2024 anymore to try to vote someone else in. This is absolute insanity.
"I want proof that the little efforts we make as individuals (attending meetings, donating, signing petitions, calling our reps) will result in drastic change. Because those list items are beginning to feel like “thoughts and prayers” at this point."
This really struck me because I think you put your finger on something there. What we can do feels absurdly minuscule in the face of what we are dealing with.
How are we not all in the streets? This is something I think about literally once a week.
But in case you can't open it, it's an interview with David Cullen who has written several books on gun control. Here's his response to Anand when he asks him to make the case for why gun reform is winning the long game:
"I can summarize it one sentence: Mitch McConnell, the primary force blockading gun safety legislation for two decades, personally blew a hole in it last summer. He not only flipped a U-turn and voted for the first federal gun safety law in a generation; he also led 15 members of his conference to defect. (The legislation needed 10 Republican Senate votes, which had always seemed unthinkable. With Mitch’s flip, they got 15. And most of them from the South and/or deep in gun country.)
Mitch knows which ways the political winds are blowing. Love or hate him, he’s one of the smartest minds in the country on that. He didn’t declare war on his staunch ally the NRA lightly. And we know why he did it, because he told us. In a closed-door meeting, his team presented stunning internal polling of gun-owning households. Mitch summarized it for reporters afterward: “Support for the provisions of the framework is off the charts, overwhelming.” He told his conference the suburbs were slipping away from them, and guns were a key reason why. No suburbs meant no more red waves. Nearly a third of Mitch’s conference jumped with him. On the very first jump."
Sometimes, especially when so many of my worries are condensed into a piece like this, it feels utterly unbelievable that I have chosen to raise my kids here, and not in a country where the US's "progressive" would be considered right-wing there. I want my children safe. I want to be safe. I want the system to support parents and children and families and communities. Sheesh.
My partner is not from the U.S., and we have a lot of discussions about this. He has no particular (emotional) attachment to the U.S. I do--and as an American, I'm appalled that this is where my country finds itself right now.
Thank you, Ani, for attending Moms demand. I have attended a Zoom meeting and I think one of the challenges is that Americans and esp parents are stretched so thin that we hardly have space to advocate for ourselves.
Thank you for being there in person. I donate. Being there is much more powerful.
Thank you, Lane, for raising your voice in this powerful piece. We can't just adapt to this new norm of fear like a lobster heating up in a pot of water. Your piece is putting the spark under me to attend the local meetings of Moms Demand Common Sense Gun Safety. We have to keep shouting and protesting and writing letters.
Thanks for what you said about David French's urging parents to attend to their mental health. He misses the bigger picture, which you so ably capture.
I hadn't heard of Moms Demand Common Sense Gun Safety. I will look it up and see if there's a local chapter. Maybe I can host one if not.
My mind is racing after the news today. There needs to be a radical shift and I wish it didn’t feel insurmountable, but why aren’t articles like this on the front page of the news? How is this even up for debate? I want proof that the little efforts we make as individuals (attending meetings, donating, signing petitions, calling our reps) will result in drastic change. Because those list items are beginning to feel like “thoughts and prayers” at this point. I can’t wait until 2024 anymore to try to vote someone else in. This is absolute insanity.
"I want proof that the little efforts we make as individuals (attending meetings, donating, signing petitions, calling our reps) will result in drastic change. Because those list items are beginning to feel like “thoughts and prayers” at this point."
This really struck me because I think you put your finger on something there. What we can do feels absurdly minuscule in the face of what we are dealing with.
How are we not all in the streets? This is something I think about literally once a week.
Okay Missy! I found some "proof" for us. And it's pretty good and v hopeful actually.
Here's the link: https://open.substack.com/pub/anandwrites/p/to-beat-the-nra-learn-from-it?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
But in case you can't open it, it's an interview with David Cullen who has written several books on gun control. Here's his response to Anand when he asks him to make the case for why gun reform is winning the long game:
"I can summarize it one sentence: Mitch McConnell, the primary force blockading gun safety legislation for two decades, personally blew a hole in it last summer. He not only flipped a U-turn and voted for the first federal gun safety law in a generation; he also led 15 members of his conference to defect. (The legislation needed 10 Republican Senate votes, which had always seemed unthinkable. With Mitch’s flip, they got 15. And most of them from the South and/or deep in gun country.)
Mitch knows which ways the political winds are blowing. Love or hate him, he’s one of the smartest minds in the country on that. He didn’t declare war on his staunch ally the NRA lightly. And we know why he did it, because he told us. In a closed-door meeting, his team presented stunning internal polling of gun-owning households. Mitch summarized it for reporters afterward: “Support for the provisions of the framework is off the charts, overwhelming.” He told his conference the suburbs were slipping away from them, and guns were a key reason why. No suburbs meant no more red waves. Nearly a third of Mitch’s conference jumped with him. On the very first jump."
Sometimes, especially when so many of my worries are condensed into a piece like this, it feels utterly unbelievable that I have chosen to raise my kids here, and not in a country where the US's "progressive" would be considered right-wing there. I want my children safe. I want to be safe. I want the system to support parents and children and families and communities. Sheesh.
My partner is not from the U.S., and we have a lot of discussions about this. He has no particular (emotional) attachment to the U.S. I do--and as an American, I'm appalled that this is where my country finds itself right now.
Thank you, Ani, for attending Moms demand. I have attended a Zoom meeting and I think one of the challenges is that Americans and esp parents are stretched so thin that we hardly have space to advocate for ourselves.
Thank you for being there in person. I donate. Being there is much more powerful.