Moms Demand Action!

Dear The —

Today, we are all Trayvon Martin’s mother. Trayvon, a 17-year- old victim of gun violence, was sadly one of the children and teens shot and killed every 3 hours and 15 minutes in America. Gun violence is a public health crisis of epidemic proportions in our country and, unchecked by Congress and many state legislatures, continues to spiral out of control. The lack of regulation of guns in America is a grave danger to all of our children . . .

The shooting death of Trayvon underscores the growing danger of increasingly lenient gun policies across the United States. Stand Your Ground laws, which give everyday citizens more leeway to shoot than the U.S. military gives to our soldiers in war zones, endanger our children, families and communities. These laws grow even more dangerous when coupled with some states’ permissive concealed carry policies that empower untrained, average citizens to carry a gun, and turn everyday conflicts into deadly tragedies.

Join Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense In America TODAY, and share this message with friends and family who want to join us as we push for common-sense gun laws in America.

A recent Texas A&M study analyzed 20 states with Stand Your Ground laws, including Florida, and found that the laws do not deter violent crime. In fact, there is a clear increase in homicides in those states, resulting in up to 700 more shooting deaths nationwide each year. Stand Your Ground laws also disproportionately affect communities of color. According to an Urban Institute study, when white shooters kill black victims, 34 percent of the resulting homicides are deemed justifiable, while only 3 percent of deaths are ruled justifiable when the shooter is black and the victim is white.

It is time for the 80 million mothers of America to stand our ground and demand new, common-sense gun laws and policies that will protect our children and honor the tragic shooting deaths of youths like Trayvon Martin. Collectively, we can use our votes and our voices to change policies and laws that will help keep American children out of the line of fire.

Shannon Watts
Founder, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense In America

www.momsdemandaction.org

Donate to Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense In America

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102 COMMENTS

  1. “A recent Texas A&M study analyzed 20 states with Stand Your Ground laws, including Florida, and found that the laws do not deter violent crime. In fact, there is a clear increase in homicides in those states, resulting in up to 700 more shooting deaths nationwide each year”

    Really?

    • It was one of the posts here. There was no correlation, that statement wasn’t even supported by the study, and it wasn’t even peer reviewed. Gun grabbers trying to grasp any thing at all at this point to try to show they aren’t horribly wrong. Wouldn’t be surprised if they start using internet poll results from Huffington. Oh wait…

      • And, of course, they miss the point entirely.

        1. SYG laws have nothing to do with violent crime
        2. To have protection under a SYG law, you must meet a very narrow set of circumstances

        Of course, I just caught myself expecting these people to understand the laws they say are so flawed. What a doofus I was!

    • “when white shooters kill black victims, 34 percent of the resulting homicides are deemed justifiable, while only 3 percent of deaths are ruled justifiable when the shooter is black and the victim is white.” No sh*t sherlock, whites kill criminals, blacks murder innocents; doesn’t take a genius to figure it out!

  3. Does that say “Dear The –” because you got on their mailing list as first name The, last name TruthAboutGuns? If so, that’d be amazing.

    As far as the 34% / 3% numbers, didn’t Ralph link something a few days ago that indicated it was more like 50/50?

  4. “… growing danger of increasingly lenient gun policies across the United States.”

    At state levels, Illinois surprisingly being the exception, I would say the opposite is true. But when it comes to the adgenda, fv@k logic.

    • Actually more like fv@k facts…

      And if they were really Trayvon’s mother they should be charged with neglect.

    • This whole email is a huge ball of lies. Not mis-statements, or errors, or spin, but straight up lies. How organizations like this can get away with spewing pure lies to the public is beyond me…….

      Isn’t the first ammendment limited by speech that causes physical harm to others? Libal and slander? Then, folks like this should be jailed for working twords passing gun-control laws that have been proven, over and over again, to cause people to get killed.

  6. here we go again another post sandy jump on the band wagon saga….who’s next lets see we have the NAACP, these broads, who’s next? the DOJ, obama, mayors against guns……

  7. So all these moms will readily lie under oath then? Because we all know it was Zimmerman screaming for help…

    • Honestly, I can’t tell. Ask people who was screaming and it tends to depend on who they wanted to win.

  8. Common sense? Gun sense? Ok, fine. the fact is, neither my wife nor myself will ever pick the date, time & place of a violent crime that takes place against either of us. Criminals, drug induced or not, pick the date, time, and place of the fight…they also pick the number of criminals involved and the “motive”..that leaves me and the Mrs. with little options…other than a firearm (concealed carry).
    So, forget about fixing black on black crime, international drug trade, generational poverty, rotten public schools, just go after the tax-paying gun owners, that’ll solve all problem. /sarc

    • Couldn’t have said it better.

      See, if only this was a democracy, where the government actually listened to its people.

      • No We more or less are degenerating into a democracy.

        This nation was founded to be a Representative Republic. “Red” state public school education?

  9. “According to an Urban Institute study, when white shooters kill black victims, 34 percent of the resulting homicides are deemed justifiable, while only 3 percent of deaths are ruled justifiable when the shooter is black and the victim is white.” Maybe it’s because they ARE justifiable. Maybe if they would stop trying to commit crimes they wouldn’t get shot. It’s not the guns it’s the criminals!

    • Agreed, it’s not about color, it’s about good prevailing over evil. It’s unfortunate some demographics have more evil than others.

    • It’s hard to argue with the numbers. More blacks are “victims” of justifiable homicide because young black men commit more crime than other groups.

  10. “…A recent Texas A&M study analyzed 20 states with Stand Your Ground laws, including Florida, and found that the laws do not deter violent crime.”

    I’m not sure deterring violent crime is the purpose of these laws. The purpose is to allow law abiding citizens to defend themselves against violent crime and be afforded legal protection.

    • Unless you were there, I’m not sure how you could know Martin was a thug anymore than the NAACP could know Zimmerman was a racist or a murderer.

        • Smoking pot proves nothing. If not, more than half of the population would be out mugging people.

          Stealing makes him a delinquent, but I’ve yet to see any evidence he was burglarizing houses or trying to rob anyone. And Zimmerman could not possibly have known this before he called the police and followed him.

        • His FB posts and texts (which the state tried to withhold from evidence) referenced his frequent use of “lean”, (a mix of concentrated cough syrup, flavored tea, and candy such as skittles) as well as the autopsy showing liver damage from overuse of codeine. That’s a long step past being a pot head. Then you have him being caught with jewelery and B&E tools. Add that to those same messages showing, at minium, an interest in street fighting and “polar bear hunting” and you have the exact recipie for a wannabe “thug”. It’s as plain as the nose on your face and I don’t understand how folks can’t (or won’t) see it.

          No offense to those who are nostrily challenged.

        • You my friend are a racist. “nostrily challenged.” Why not be a better person than that?

        • justA Where to you get off pulling any “rasist” BS out of anything said? Marks you as the rasist.

          Trayyyyyyyvon was observable at least a wannabe thug. Following in mightbehis daddy’s footsteps. And having a “girlfriend” to match.

      • @Chaotic:

        The State had it’s chance and FAILED. The system did it’s job and a Jury comprised of MOMS acquitted him!

        Not a hung Jury, but UNANIMOUSLY said the state did not prove he was Guilty!

        Get over it.

        Would the leaders of this organization have ignored the rules and Law just to get a guilty verdict? Then I say they should be in trial!

  13. Does this letter mean:

    1. These mothers approve their kids using drugs?
    2. These mothers approve of street fighting?
    3. These mothers approve of their kids being suspended from school?

    • These traitorous scumbags will approve of anything as long as it means the police eventually come door to door to take any firearms they deem politically incorrect for ownership, that is what they want and nothing less.

      They will stop at nothing and they will try anything, at this point it is really just sad that our once strong Republic has degraded to this point through nothing less than Marxist subversion of the Democratic party. Zimmerman was exonerated by a jury composed entirely of women, including a black woman! Those women know more about Trayvon and what happened than any of these Motherf@7%ers Demanding Action!

    • No – I think it means these “mothers” approve of their punk teenage son starting a fight with some fat nebby neighborhood watch guy and pounding his skull into the pavement because he didn’t like the way the dude was looking at him.

      • What about Zimmerman? He is Hispanic and he doesn’t deserve a Mom?

        I would suppose on a 4473 he more than likely he checks “Hispanic” for Race.

        So now does one race deserve more protection than another?

        Oh I see, now we are again going against the concept that all people are created equal, but civil propaganda makes one more worthy than the other if living?

        Gotcha!

      • Reports are that Zimmerman put on 100lb of stress weight since the “incident”. Huge mistake compared. Showing up in court looking like just released from Dachau would have served him well in this case.

  15. “Stand Your Ground laws, which give everyday citizens more leeway to shoot than the U.S. military gives to our soldiers in war zones”

    Probably not the wording they wanted to use in the Age of Obama, where are soldiers are only permitted to shoot back if they’ve been shot several times. Funny thing is, for all the hysteria, I’ve never been buzzed by a bullet as I was promised by groups like Moms Demand Serfdom, Mayors Against All Guns, and the proven liars in the Main Stream Media. And I work in the big city. Every day the only thing I hear about bullets whizzing is from the Central City.

    • “… I’ve never been buzzed by a bullet as I was promised…”

      Dont feel bad. Im still waiting for blood to flow in the streets, I need a bath really bad. See according to that judge in Mississppi, that is what will happen if they allow open carry. He must not pay much attention to his OC’ing neighbors to the north ‘cuz Im still waiting on the blood.

    • More leeway than the military. Wow. The rhetoric these antis spew forth hurts my head.
      I’d like to see a $1,000 fine for “lying to promote an agenda” law.

    • These “mothers” also forget that Obama has authorized our soldiers to vaporize suspected bad guys with Hellfire missiles—without having to be shot at first, without having to have fear of great bodily harm, and with little care for collateral casualties. What a bunch of fools these moms are.

  16. “The lack of regulation of guns in America is a grave danger to all of our children . . .”

    The lack of regulation? Seriously? I had trouble moving on in the text because my brain hit this big brick wall in the opening paragraph.

    Everything about these progressive agendas relies on stupidity: 90% of gun owners want UBC; I even heard this doozy the other night: a majority of NRA members want UBC.

  17. Obama the Great has already blamed the GUNS, with his “gun violence” codespeak, conveniently the leftist race baiter made no mention of Trayvons VIOLENCE that started the whole thing. He was just a child, y’know. Here is the stupid text:

    “The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.”

  18. If by “we are all Trayvon’s mother” they mean they all parents who don’t have a f*king clue of what their kid was into, then yes, yes they are.

    • Seriously. I’ve had it with this bitch.
      You want to make the world a better place? I can think of a dozen that don’t involve lying through your teeth or talking about things you don’t know shit about.
      Or you could just go get a real damn job. Either way, fade the f**k away, Mom Squad.

  20. Actually, the Texas study shows the Stand Your Ground law seems to be working!!
    Nothing deters violent crime, but it does appear the laws do deter criminals from further crime, once they are dead, they cease all criminal activity.

    Their statistic of “up to” 700 additional homicides is for all 50 states, not just for the 20 states with SYG laws. They also don’t say how many, if any of those “up to” 700 would be applicable to a SYG law. Wonder why they can’t get an exact number?

    They also make a general statement about “untrained average citizens turning everyday conflicts into tragedies “. They clearly have marketing people writing this stuff, – it’s like saying, ” Ruger. Making everyday citizens into murderous thugs for over 100 years”.

    • Please consider that the numbers that they are using don’t even count folks killed under SYG, since anyone killed under SYG is a justifieable homicide and is not included in CDC statistics.

    • the laws do deter criminals from further crime, once they are dead, they cease all criminal activity.

      Do you have a link for that? 😉

      • Yeah, I want to that like too. I was watching this documentary called The Walking Dead, and the people on there had to be killed multiple times before they ceased activity.

        • Ah yes, but Bob specified criminal activity. What those folks were engaging in wasn’t criminal as there was no mens rea (guilty mind). In fact there was no mind at all!

  23. We need to start a list of “lives saved from criminals” Let’s not forget this was not an innocent civilian. I’d have shot the guy too.

  24. really? we are all his mom? Why wasn’t his actual Mom paying attention to the drugs, street fighting, and attempts to buy a gun?

    Because if he was my kid, his phone, video game, and other privileges would have been revoked, and he would have been grounded for quite a awhile. For starters.

  25. “the lack of regulation of guns” ?????
    How many laws are on the books including all levels of gov? Plus all of the ATF policies?

  26. If any increase in deaths is the result of stand your ground and CCW laws…then what is increasing are the Criminals being shot to death.during their crime, and not being arrested so that they can remain a part of the problem, which releases them back to due more harm and keep the $$$ following to the criminal justice system..Self Defense with a firearm is not a crime…it is a creator given right…..But it is a HATE CRIME to a progressive……..imho

  28. Sure, moms demand action. Start by not being a bunch of welfare brood mares that spit out kid after kid. Start by having a family with some values, not just having a “baby daddy”. Start by raising these kids to be decent members of society and not predatory thugs…..Nah too much work, lets just blame guns.

  30. my head almost exploded while reading that… I cannot believe the total ignorance and sheer mental retardation. and these are moms. people reproducing. handing down thier skewed world perspective to another generation. no amount of logic and reasoning would get through to them, so all I could say is STFU and DIAF.

  31. There is so much wrong with how’s those stats are portrayed(no surprise there). I’m sure there’s more homocides(justifiable) in places with stand your ground laws. I’d be much more likely to pull the trigger in my home if I was sure I’d have the law on my side. In public I would be probably even more careful with the laws because I need to make sure I’m actually”standing my ground” legally.
    On a side note I find it incredibly frustrating when I can’t voice my opinion on these groups’ forums and what-nots.

  32. Are these the same moms who would not dream of dating a black man and had no back friends growing up? Hippocrates with nothing better to do in order to give some sort of meaning to their dull lives.

  34. Are we being sensed on this site now??? Ive posted 2 notes, with nothing showing up, WHY???

  35. Dear Moms,

    You are free to regulate guns in your own home and to regulate your children to crap their pants if someone even SAYS the word “gun” within their hearing. What you are NOT free to do is to project that regulation beyond your insular world and onto the rest of us.

    Go in peace, and leave us the hell alone.

    Respectfully,
    Someone who adamantly disagrees with you

  36. “A recent Texas A&M study analyzed 20 states with Stand Your Ground laws, including Florida, and found that the laws do not deter violent crime. In fact, there is a clear increase in homicides in those states, resulting in up to 700 more shooting deaths nationwide each year. Stand Your Ground laws also disproportionately affect communities of color. According to an Urban Institute study, when white shooters kill black victims, 34 percent of the resulting homicides are deemed justifiable, while only 3 percent of deaths are ruled justifiable when the shooter is black and the victim is white.”

    That study was debunked on this very site 2 days ago:

    http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/07/daniel-zimmerman/no-castle-doctrine-does-not-increase-violent-crime/

  38. “We Are All Trayvon Martin’s Mother”

    No, I’m not TM mom. I have a dong and it is circumcized. Neither is my sister or my mother TM’s mom. In other news “we are all abc or xyz” is getting really stale and boring.

  40. If the text had been quoted, or even indented, I wouldn’t have shat myself before the end of the first paragraph. =:-O

  43. I am NOT nor ever will be Trayvons mother. What a stupid thing to say!!! I’m sorry he is dead, I really am. It is a tragedy. I’m with Zimmerman though. If I see someone unfamiliar in my neighbor hood, I’d follow them too. He could have politely talked to Zimmerman, but instead had to fight. He could have stopped this!!!!! He was acting like a punk and wanted a fight. Did he deserve to die, absolutely NOT. Zimmerman was scared. He may have had a gun but clearly did not no how to handle it. Was it intentional, no way. It was an accident. An accident that could have been prevented if Martin would have removed his hoodie, addressed Zimmerman in a friendly manner and explained the situation to him. Not something a pot smoking, street fighting punk teenager who’s angry at the world wants to do though. The media and trouble makers like Sharpton, Jackson and Obama made this into something that they hope will fit their racist agenda.

    • Another lesson is that, if you decide you want to fight a stranger, they may be better armed than you.

  44. As much as I hate both Republican and Democrats alike, you’ve got to love how the left idolize a murderous thug and vilify someone stopping said thug from killing them. Every member of Morons Demand Action should be ashamed for promoting violence against innocent people.

  45. Some of you moms, like me, need to read excerpts from Mr. Martin’s facebook page and some of his tweets to young women like my step daughter….I am a Vigilante (meaning that I will interject and stop all contacts to children in my home) when it comes to my teens web interaction……..One of my daughters and and I were having a ‘conversation’ about who (the underage in our household) can be contacted and who cannot…….I have erased all contact this man had with my girls…..but if you saw it I would hope that you would be as alarmed as my husband and I were. It is a ‘sticky wicket’ when it comes to a 17 yr old man going on 18. But what if you were the mom and stepmom of 2 girls barely 12 & 13 and this supposed ‘child’ of 17+ sent pics of his body your household? Do you care if my household is brown, black, pink or white? Think before you call this man a ‘child’.

  46. If you track down Shannon’s home in zionsville, and look at where her kids go to school, and how she lives, you’d be hard-pressed to believe that even Shannon thinks that she is Trayvon’s mom.

  47. Ironic that these soccer moms are the same kind of people that would have Treyvon arrested for asking for directions.

  48. Isn’t heart disease a public health crisis? Where do they get their stat of one kid killed every 3.25 hours? Everyone blast their FB page.

  49. “According to an Urban Institute study, when white shooters kill black victims, 34 percent of the resulting homicides are deemed justifiable, while only 3 percent of deaths are ruled justifiable when the shooter is black and the victim is white.”

    Race-baiting statistical magic tricks.

  50. Are Zimmerman’s civil rights being violated considering he is living under the constant threat of bodily injury/death by a racist vigilante mob?

    • The lesson here is, we are supposed to let strangers, suspicious characters and the like have total and uninhibited, unquestioned access to roam our neighborhoods freely whenever they choose. If you get killed by one of these individuals…well…at least you didn’t violate anyone’s civil rights.

  51. The above title reads-we are all trayvon’s mum! Despite all the political jargon,debate on gun control,the most important point is-Trayvon was a child and a mother’s cherished child but for one coward fool who decided to take matters in his hands rather than leave it to the authorities,this dear mum has had to relive her young son’s death again with the unfair decision the jury made! God bless u dear mum and all other mums who have lost a child! RIP Trayvon! Mr.Zimmerman,maybe one day u mite realise how uve broken trayvon’s mum’s heart by having a child & pls don’t even comment that yr child will be different! How many times I have heard such comments by naive parents!

    • “…but for one coward fool who decided to take matters in his hands rather than leave it to the authorities…”

      You’re right, he should have called the authorities while he was getting his head beaten against the ground. I’m sure they would have been right along to straighten things out. Eventually.

      And I know I’ve told you this before, but ‘u’ is not a word. Neither is ‘yr.’ Even if you’re typing with your thumbs. You’re not up against a 140 character maximum here.

      (Although I am curious. If you’re using ‘u’ why aren’t you using ‘ur?’ Why the ‘y?’)

      • Matt,thank YOU for YOUR concern in regarding to my abbreviation of u,u’re,yr! I will try to be more considerate in how I post my comments in the future! It could have something to do with the fact that I live in Australia and we do tend to shorten words! In regards to Mr.Zimmerman’s injuries-if his head was being slammed into the ground,then why did he just have a few bloody scratches on his head? Mr. Zimmerman will have to live the rest of his life knowing only too well that he killed a young man when he was told by the proper authorities not to follow Trayvon!

        • I cannot speak to his injuries. I was not there, and therefore I do not know the severity of the beating. Regardless, our self-defense laws in Florida do not require ANY injury whatsoever. You are not required to take a beating.

          “…when he was told by the proper authorities not to follow Trayvon!”

          And we’re back to this. A non-emergency operator is not a “proper authority.” They do not have the legal authority to tell anyone to do anything. They can advise, as in “We don’t need you to do that,” but they cannot direct. Nevertheless, when advised, GZ replied “OK” and turned to return to his vehicle, at which point he was confronted.

  53. So we all have tattooed, gold toothed kids who are suspended for fighting, vandalism, and possession of stolen goods? Who take pics of themselves smoking weed, and brag about their stolen firearms? Pretty sure they mean someone else.

    • I just read every single comment on here most I liked. Some were stupid. Yours was the absolute funniest. Km so sick of hearing how Zimmerman is a racist and all the mother jurors were racist, and everyone who is I’m favor of Zimmerman is racist. Fuck off you’re the real racist. Black makes age 14-28 are violently assaulting white, brown. Yellow and any hade of skin tone not black every damn day. And it’s never a hate crime. The moment a Spanish dude. (With a white parent) kills a black man (who was a scumbag and attacking him) suddenly it’s a hate crime. If you look up convictions of hate crimes in the us, its likely that 80+% of them the defendant is white or not gay. Good luck finding the latter. However of you look up reported black on white assaults there are probably more reported in a day than there are traffic stops made. Fuck off with you fingers pointing at any white man who feels Zimmerman was within his rights. And calling them racists. You are the ones who are racists. Taking a violent attack turned homicide. A tragedy for everyone involved. And the first thing out of your mouths is oh the crime he’s racist. Well that just goes to show you’re in fact the racist!

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