Guest Opinion: Want progress on guns? Don't agonize. Organize.

Bucks County Courier Times
·2 min read

I have done it all. Everything a concerned citizen should do to try to effect change. I have marched in rallies and carried a sign, visited members of Congress, called members of Congress, signed every petition that came around, joined and donated to Orange Wave, Bucks Safe, Moms Demand Action, Everytown USA, and wrote a song called, "Thoughts and Prayers."

I made calls to Georgia to get Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff elected to the U.S. Senate. It worked and they won, making the Senate 50-50. Everything was set. With Kamala Harris to break the tie, we could finally get commonsense gun laws, voting rights, and women's rights. We were so close. We almost made it. But it was two votes short.

The problem is clear. Republican senators are the problem. Also two Democratic senators who would not vote to change the filibuster rules. The House passed a bill two years ago regarding gun safety laws with our Democratic majority. The Senate has yet to vote on it.

Slaughter of children was not enough to change the legislation. We learned that from Sandy Hook. The children from Sandy Hook and from Robb Elementary were killed so violently that their little bodies were not recognizable. Identification had to be done from DNA and clothing fragments. The parents were asked what their kids wore to school that day. And it was two days before school ended and then they would be off for the summer. Today's weapons are 40% more lethal than those used in Vietnam.

So let's not agonize, let's organize. (Of course I will still agonize, but I can do both). We must get John Fetterman elected to the Senate. Maybe you are someone who votes, but only in presidential election years. Or you don't vote at all, thinking, "What difference does it make?" But it does make a difference. Electing John Fetterman to the Senate will make a difference. This is what Pennsylvanians must do.

Lynda Mintz is a singer/songwriter and political activist, who lives in Bensalem.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Guest Opinion: Want progress on guns? Don't agonize. Organize.