Women gather in Spokane to learn how to take action against gun violence

A mother to seven and grandmother of 20, Judy Bacon has grown weary of America’s gun violence epidemic.

The mass shootings. The number of gun-related homicides and suicides. The access to semi-automatic rifles. Bacon, a retired Coeur d’Alene School District teacher, said she’s had enough.

“We have 25 times the amount of gun violence than other developed countries,” she said. “We’re off the charts, and it has to stop.”

Dozens of other mothers shared Bacon’s sentiments Tuesday at a Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America gathering at the Spokane Women’s Club.

Moms Demand Action was launched a few years ago to spur action from legislators, companies and schools to establish “common-sense gun reforms,’ according to its website.

The Spokane chapter of the national movement began last fall, according to coordinator Anya Turner. Its first meeting followed October’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, and membership has increased since last month’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Turner said.

Some of the group’s main objectives include closing loopholes in the background check system, promoting gun safety and getting illegal guns off the streets.

“We’re not here to take people’s guns away,” Turner said. “We do protect the 2nd Amendment. We just want common-sense laws.”

On Tuesday night, about 100 people came to learn about the movement and write letters to legislators and student survivors of the Parkland shooting.

Patty Grandos, who spearheads the Spokane chapter’s legislative presence, donned a red Moms Demand Action T-shirt as she spoke to the room.

“How many of you have been to Olympia to lobby for something?” Grandos said as soon as she was given the microphone.

Just a couple of hands were raised before Grandos proceeded to teach the group how to voice their concerns at the state level.

On Feb. 13, Grandos said she and other Moms Demand Action members lobbied for two bills: the ban on bumpstock – an attachment that enables a semi-automatic rifle to fire faster – and a voluntary waiver.

A voluntary waiver, Grandos said, would allow someone battling mental illness to put themselves on a background-check list to prevent their purchase of a gun.

Grandos said she was surprised when many legislators voted against the bumpstock ban and voluntary waiver.

“But those two bills did pass, but not because of our legislators,” Grandos said. “Just today, the bumpstock ban was signed, which is really exciting.”