Moms Demand Action

It was a crazy day. Moms were lobbying at the capitol, and we Ben had the day off, so we decided to make it a downtown field trip for the whole family. While I lobbied, Ben took the girls to the Colorado History Museum. After I was done, I met them there.

It was so great go be with Moms! It was such a fabulous opportunity to be surrounded by like-minded women who believe that we can and must make the world safer for the children. Even though I knew my reps would be awful (and they were- I'll get to that), being with women who want to make the world better for our children was worth going to.

Also, our capitol building is awe inspiring. It is such a beautiful building! I need to take the girls there for a field trip.Maybe next year I will have them lobby with me, but they would be pretty bored.

Of course, I had to chuckle that guns aren't allowed in order to protect our legislators. But heaven forbid they protect their constituents.

It is always interesting to see how the democratic process works. In lobbying, you send a card to the senator or rep you want to talk to while they are on the senate or rep floor, then they choose whether or not they want to come and talk to you. We didn't expect our reps to visit us, as they are extremists. I consider myself a moderate, but these reps are not. For example. tomorrow they are holding their town hall at a gun shop, even though just a year ago a cop was shot and killed, and with the ERPO bill that we are supporting and lobbying for and that our Republican Sheriff who just won re-election with 86% of the vote supports, his life would have been saved. They are extreme right of far right. They use fear and intimidation at every turn. So, we weren't expecting anything.

But, they actually did meet with us- Chris Holbert and Kevin VanWinkle. And, as expected, they were heinous. Contemptuous, spiteful. Horrid men who when I asked point blank, "Is a child's life, which is being threatened by an abusive father, less important than a gun?" and looked me in the eye and said, "yes." Un-freaking-believable when we have Columbine High School five miles from our district.

Nevertheless, this is how democracy works. Even if you disagree, you sit around a table and speak. You show up when it is hard. Especially when it is hard. So, we did.

Hopefully ERPO will pass the Senate next week. It has already passed the House. This law would simply allow law enforcement officers to remove guns from extremely dangerous persons- AFTER it has already been proven in court and an order signed by a judge that he/she is extremely dangerous. And, they can get their guns back in 15 days. It has already passed in 14 states- many of them red states. This is such a tame bill, and about 80% of Coloradans support it. Republicans supported virtually the exact same bill 6 months ago.

We shall see. Either way, at least I can say that I spoke my truth. Being able to do so is something I will always be grateful.