Fortunately, there wasn’t a copycat mass shooting on Saturday to grotesquely mark the 25th anniversary of the Columbine massacre on April 20, 1999. But just as we can be certain there will be another solar eclipse, it’s only a matter of time before a hail of bullets will block out the sun for another community somewhere in America. What’s also true? Expect the shooter to be male, probably white.
Tag: Gun Control
Will Men Organize to End Gun Violence?
It’s been six years since the Valentine’s Day massacre of 14 students and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and gun violence remains as virulent a disease as ever, with regular new outbreaks in states across the country.
Like many debates about social conditions in the U.S., too many men remain silent, rarely weighing in, whether the issue is mass shootings, women’s reproductive rights or the climate emergency. What if, in this critically important election year, men organized themselves as men to speak out?
Who Runs the World? Women Mayors.
As St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones told Ms., “Men run for office to be somebody; women run to do something.”
More and more, women serving as mayors are part of the feminist frontline for advancing equal rights and are leaders on issues of concern to women voters.
As seen throughout history, women mayors focus on feminist issues that many tend to overlook. Let’s bring intersectional issues to the forefront, and elect more women mayors to push forward our agenda.
U.S. Gun Culture Is Killing Our Children—Including My Own
Six years ago, my beautiful boy was shot in the head at his best friend’s house. His friend’s father stored his three handguns and ammunition in a shoebox. We later learned that Ethan’s friend, who had just passed the NRA safety course and grew up with guns, had been regularly accessing and showing his teenage friends unsecured guns for over six months.
Ethan’s death was not an outlier. Over 4.6 million children in America live in a home with access to an unlocked or unsupervised firearm. And one in five children have handled guns in the home without their parent’s knowledge. As a result, eight children a day are killed or injured by unintentional shootings—a type of “family fire,” or a tragedy resulting from unsecured access to guns. Family fire killed Ethan, despite being entirely preventable. We can start to end this war by safely storing firearms and asking about unsecured guns in the home where our children go to play.
You Are ‘Killing my Generation’: A Gun Violence Survivor Takes On the Industry
This week is National Gun Violence Survivors Week, a time when we come together to honor and uplift survivors of gun violence. The gun industry must be held accountable for the nation of gun violence survivors they have created.
That’s why I, along with my fellow Students Demand Action volunteers across the country, are demanding that gun manufacturers take sensible steps to stop producing AR-15s and similar assault weapons with high-capacity magazines, prioritize safety over lethality in their products, and avoid partnering with untrustworthy dealers. We’re also calling on our colleges and universities to divest from the gun industry.
Murder-Suicides Are an Urgent Domestic Violence and Gun Control Issue
Theresa Cachuela, known as “Bunny Bontiti” to her more than 20,000 Instagram followers, was fatally shot on Dec. 22 in a murder-suicide committed by her husband, as her young daughter looked on, just days after a judge granted Cachuela a restraining order against him. Cachuela is one of hundreds of murder-suicide victims each year.
Highlighting the connection between guns and domestic violence is crucial, with the Supreme Court currently considering the case of United States v. Rahimi, a Second Amendment challenge to the government’s right to ban gun permits for those subject to domestic violence restraining orders.
Keeping Score: Anti-LGBTQ Laws on the Rise; Wins and Losses for Abortion Representation on TV; Millions Sign up for Healthcare Coverage
In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.
This week: In Florida, reproductive rights groups seeking a constitutional amendment protecting abortion secured enough signatures to put a referendum on the 2024 ballot; anti-LGBTQ laws are on the rise; tracking on-screen abortion representation; millions sign up for healthcare coverage; the pope approves blessings for same-sex couples; New York arbitrators frequently reinstate abusive correctional officers; Gypsy Rose Blanchard is released from prison; being a feminist does not equal hating men, research confirms; and more.
The Most-Read Ms. Stories of 2023
Ms. readers are fed up. You know how I know? Your reading patterns. I know we are tired. I’m tired too. But I’m so glad you brought those big feelings to Ms. And just know: Your rage, your activism and your voice are making a difference.
Explore the most popular articles published this year on MsMagazine.com.
The Constitution as a Homicide Pact
The facts of U.S. v. Rahimi reveal the gendered and destructive reality of gun use behind the illusion of abstract, idealized self-defense.
Every 14 hours in the U.S., a man uses a gun to kill his intimate partner. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable. But the Supreme Court’s conservative commitment to “life” is highly selective, to put it mildly, and tends to value women’s lives—including those of domestic violence victims—very little. We can expect the Court’s ruling to come down in June or July of 2024.
SCOTUS Will Decide Whether to Give Domestic Violence Abusers Access to Guns
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to consider the case of United States v. Rahimi, where the justices could strike down a longstanding, life-saving federal law that prohibits people subject to domestic violence protective orders from possessing firearms.
Imagine living with a violent, controlling partner, not knowing what you might face each time you enter your home. Imagine trying to protect yourself and your child in that situation, hang onto your job, and figure out how to get help. Imagine you reach out to a domestic violence program or the police get involved, eventually get legal representation and take the difficult step of showing up for a court proceeding that results in a domestic violence protective order requiring your abuser to stay away. And then imagine that they can nonetheless walk into a gun shop and purchase a firearm. How safe would you and your child be?