The day after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Shannon Watts, a PR executive, started a Facebook page called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Today there are more than 80 local chapters across the country. Her goal is for Moms Demand Action to become the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) of safe gun laws. And she’s getting closer.
Former NYC mayor and billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg just gave her organization (and Mayors Against Illegal Guns – they’re merging to become Everytown for Gun Safety) $50 million. (In recent years, the NRA has spent $20 million annually on political activities.) “Right now, women, when they go to the polls, they vote on abortion, they vote on jobs, they vote on health care,” said Ms. Watts during an interview with Mr. Bloomberg. “We want one of those things to be gun violence prevention.”
