Hartford mothers bring fight against gun violence to Washington, D.C. ‘We want them to hear our voices’

U.S. Rep. John. B. Larson said he simply wants all lawmakers to see the heartache and what parents who lose children to gun violence “are living through on a daily basis.”

Larson,.D-1, spoke outside the House Triangle in Washington D.C., as Mothers United Against Violence of Hartford joined the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, elected officials and advocates in calling for action on gun violence prevention legislation.

In introducing Mothers United Against Violence leader Deborah Davis to speak, Larson said that the group was there to talk with elected officials about the gun violence prevention model they use in the state in hopes that it may help in coming up with a national solution against gun violence.

“They are here so that they can sit down with all of us and talk about the model that they use…and looking for a not only a solution, but for our Republican colleagues to actually look them in the eyes and understand the heartache and what they are living through on a daily basis,” he said.

Davis said that it was a tragedy for them to even have to stand and say that they need support to eliminate this issue.

“We have to tell the Republican members that this does not just impact our mass shootings that we’ve had so often. As one person said, more than the days of the year – we are losing so many young people across the country. There are groups like Mothers United Against Violence, that have been working on the front line for over 18 years,” she said.

She said that having their boots on the ground through the years has been important, as they understand the pain when individuals lose family members and friends to gun violence.

“We know what the pain is. We are represented by mothers throughout the state of Connecticut. Mothers that have passed the pain that understand the pain and how to help others get through the pain,” she said.

Davis said that they are willing to talk to all sides to find a solution to end gun violence, including police departments and Republican elected officials, as they believe it should be a bipartisan issue.

“That’s key for us because we want them to hear our voices. We are willing to talk to them. We want to share our voices with them and let them know how important it is to save lives,” she said. “That’s our underlying goal – saving lives. If we can help to save a life, that’s what we want to do. This should be a bipartisan issue, because this issue is taking out everyone across the board. And it doesn’t matter what color you are, what ethnicity you are, what language you speak. It takes us out – one by one.”

Davis said that they are exhausted as they continue to see shootings across the country.

“This is not just an issue that happens in the urban communities. Now we are seeing this all over the country. This should be a bipartisan issue. We want to sit down with the Republicans…The most important thing for us is saving our children. Saving our children, as we have tears every day for our children. And we may not look like we cry every day, but we do. We cry every day, because the tears inside are just as real as the tears outside. That visible and that invisible pain lives with us on a day to day basis,” she said.

University of Louisville Health Chief Medical Officer and Trauma Surgeon Dr. Jason Smith, who faces the trauma of gun violence every day, said that two weeks ago, he became the most recent addition to a growing cadre of surgeons and nurses across the country that have had to respond to mass shootings.

“What you see on the news regarding the mass shootings garners the headlines, ‘it’s a horrible and tragic event.’ It’s also one I see every single day in my hospital. The simple fact of the matter is that during the response to the recent mass shooting (in my state), I received two other shootings that were unrelated that I had to deal with. The simple fact of the matter is that between a mass shooting on Monday and a mass shooting that occurred on Saturday, I had 18 other gunshot wounds in my community that week that I had to deal with,” he said.

He said that there is no town or city in the United States that is not having to deal with this.

“This is an ‘us’ problem. Every community is going to be impacted by gun violence. I pray and hope it is not yours. But the simple statistics will tell you – it will be and you will know someone. I don’t know the solutions ladies and gentlemen, I’m a doctor. My job is to put bodies back together after these tragedies,” he said.

Smith said “talk to the people that are your representatives, talk to your senators. Talk to the people that are your state representatives. Talk to your mayors, talk to your city councils, [and] ask them to do something, do something to help us, because this is not going away unless we begin to act appropriately to begin to enact solutions that are going to be able to let us make a difference in this tragic event.”

U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio said that on Wednesday, his daughter called him twice while he was in a meeting, and when he called her back he asked for a specific request whenever she calls him in the future: “I said, ‘Hey, can you text before you call and just say everything’s OK.’”

“And I didn’t have to explain anything. She said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. Yes. That was my fault.’ She knew immediately that I was scared that her school was being shot up, that there were kids dead in her school,” he said.

Landsman also shared what he did Monday morning, when he dropped his children at school, noting “I did what most of us as parents are doing now. I just take one last look at my children to make sure I know what they were wearing in case I’m asked to come in to identify my kid. We are doing this every day. And I believe that it’s possible that it’s this generation of parents that will save our children. And so whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, Independent or have no interest in politics whatsoever, but you’re a parent – call (on this Congress).”

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York said gun violence is an issue he has been dealing with his entire life in one way or another.

“We are demanding that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle join with us to pass transformational gun violence reform legislation. There are answers to these questions. An assault weapons ban, universal background checks, universal red flag laws [that] go further in domestic partner categories, universal storage, and how about we do something with the damn gun trafficking that keeps happening in our country?,” he said.