Speaker 1: First of all, you don't know me. We're all about
Speaker 1: that high school drama. Girl, drama girl, all about them
Speaker 1: high school queens. We'll take you for a ride in
Speaker 1: our comic girl cheering for the drama queen's up, girl fashion,
Speaker 1: but you'll tough. Girl. You could sit with us. Girl
Speaker 1: Drama Queens, John M Queen's, John Mc Queen's drama, John
Speaker 1: Mc Queen's drama Queen's. Hey Friends, uh, welcome back. Last
Speaker 1: week was big and we realized that in going back
Speaker 1: and watching an episode like that one. Uh, we have questions.
Speaker 1: So many of you have had questions about what to do,
Speaker 1: how to get involved, how to not feel heartbroken and hopeless,
Speaker 1: and we know no better person to lead us from
Speaker 1: hope hopelessness to help than the incredible and incomparable Shannon Watts,
Speaker 1: who is the founder of MOM's demand action, an incredible
Speaker 1: group of MOMS from all across the country and allies
Speaker 1: and advocates who are joining together to try to solve
Speaker 1: this crisis. And we could not be luckier than to
Speaker 1: have Shannon here with the three of us today. Hello,
Speaker 1: lovely friend and warrior, how are you? I'm good. How
Speaker 1: are you good? Good, this last episode was a hard watch,
Speaker 1: Shannon Um, trying to tackle this subject matter on TV,
Speaker 1: you know, and we were a show that wasn't taken
Speaker 1: very seriously, and so it felt really weird to become
Speaker 1: a platform for this conversation. Um. And we know so
Speaker 1: much more now and kind of getting over stereotypes and
Speaker 1: and finding out what is the truth of the matter,
Speaker 1: with the real data shows, with the real you know,
Speaker 1: still these show is important for our audience. Information is power.
Speaker 1: M Hmm, and I'm really quick. Sorry, I'm going to
Speaker 1: pause us for one sec just because they brought you
Speaker 1: in while we were doing your intro and I would
Speaker 1: love just to take one spot second before we jump
Speaker 1: into the episode and also introduce you. And you're such
Speaker 1: an important person in my life. That's Hillary. This is
Speaker 1: joy Um and and yeah, last week we watched this
Speaker 1: episode that we did in two thousand six Um that
Speaker 1: really centered on a sort of heartbroken kid who had
Speaker 1: been going through bullying, who brought a gun to school
Speaker 1: and everything just went terribly. It wasn't a traditional, you know,
Speaker 1: narrative of of how we see this happening, and one
Speaker 1: of the things that really just it was so heartbreaking
Speaker 1: for all of us and watching these, you know, beautiful performances,
Speaker 1: is that this keeps happening and everybody, you know so
Speaker 1: many of the fans online are like this one's a
Speaker 1: hard one to rewatch and it's scary and everybody knows
Speaker 1: somebody or somewhere that this has happened to or or at.
Speaker 1: And we just were like, there's we got. We got
Speaker 1: to go to the lady who can tell us what
Speaker 1: to do. So, yeah, it's interesting that that everyone was
Speaker 1: thinking about and talking about in this show lockdown drills
Speaker 1: right back in two thousand and six. I think it
Speaker 1: was pretty novel. Um, it's really been the last decade,
Speaker 1: I would say, that lockdown drills have become something that
Speaker 1: that of school districts do. They're required in forty states, Um,
Speaker 1: and that's almost there's almost two different conversations. One is
Speaker 1: about the effectiveness of lockdown drills and and are actually
Speaker 1: they're doing more harm than good. And and the other
Speaker 1: conversation is about school shootings and access to guns. And
Speaker 1: you know, who are these school shooters? Right? They're not
Speaker 1: this person that comes in off the street. Typically they're
Speaker 1: actually students. And how do you stop those? And and
Speaker 1: and really, what is the bridge between those two issues
Speaker 1: is the fact that now in this country guns are
Speaker 1: the leading cause of death among children and teats. I
Speaker 1: don't I just don't even know how to wrap my
Speaker 1: head around that. You know, we, I live in a
Speaker 1: rural community and guns are part of the culture here
Speaker 1: and I grew up with guns, you know, and so
Speaker 1: understanding the difference in legislation and in gun ownership from
Speaker 1: when we were kids in the nineties to what it
Speaker 1: is now is, I think, a big hurdle, you know,
Speaker 1: because so many people are like, well, I grew up
Speaker 1: with guns, but there's a decided difference between what kinds
Speaker 1: of guns are available, how guns are sold on the Internet.
Speaker 1: We didn't have Internet sales when we were growing up.
Speaker 1: It's a totally different world. Well, and how they're marketed
Speaker 1: to people now, you know, in the same way that
Speaker 1: those vape companies have gotten in trouble from marketing to kids.
Speaker 1: We were in a we're in an era of marketing
Speaker 1: that is perpetuating so much of the the desire and
Speaker 1: the and the change and culture, it seems. And and
Speaker 1: I wonder if you know, are there a couple of
Speaker 1: things that you can kind of teach us and and
Speaker 1: help us teach our audience some of the points you
Speaker 1: think are the most valid. Like you said, how did
Speaker 1: we become a country where of kids are doing school
Speaker 1: shooter drills? Are they effective? Who? What? What has changed?
Speaker 1: WHO's doing this? What? And and what do we what
Speaker 1: do we do? Because it's yeah, it's such a tremendous
Speaker 1: trauma that we're going through nationally and and the epidemic
Speaker 1: of violence like this doesn't care where you live, how
Speaker 1: you live, how much money you have, how you vote.
Speaker 1: It's it's transcended everything, and so I wonder if you
Speaker 1: can help us break down what it is now and
Speaker 1: also what we can do about it. Absolutely, and you know,
Speaker 1: there's so much to pack there, so if I skip
Speaker 1: over anything, feel free to ask me and I'll go back.
Speaker 1: But if you look at guns in this country, and
Speaker 1: you know, you were saying that that back in the
Speaker 1: nineties there weren't online sales and there weren't as many,
Speaker 1: or at least the same kind of guns, and that's
Speaker 1: exactly right. Um, when you go back to SA Nineteen,
Speaker 1: there's about triple the amount of guns in circulation now
Speaker 1: in this country. Um, in addition, we now have the
Speaker 1: Internet and and many sales are done online and there's
Speaker 1: no federal law requiring background checks on those sales. So
Speaker 1: states have to create those laws and about one states
Speaker 1: have created those laws. But at the same time, twenty
Speaker 1: one states have passed something called permit less carry, which
Speaker 1: means you can buy and carry a gun with no
Speaker 1: background check, no permit, no training. And so there's these
Speaker 1: two forces at war. And and that's really the mainstream Americans,
Speaker 1: of whom support things like background checks on every gun sale,
Speaker 1: versus gun makers and gun manufacturers. And the reason so
Speaker 1: that they want to sell more guns to more people
Speaker 1: with fewer barriers to entry like a background check, is
Speaker 1: because it is a huge industry, billions of dollars, right,
Speaker 1: and follow the money right exactly? Why are they marketing
Speaker 1: a R fifteens with ads that say things like Consider
Speaker 1: Your Man Card reissued? U? And it's not an accident
Speaker 1: that then we see young white men who are more
Speaker 1: and more responsible for these hate crimes with guns or
Speaker 1: school shootings, Um and so. So can I ask a
Speaker 1: quick question before we move into that, because you said
Speaker 1: something that that again I find to be so powerful.
Speaker 1: When we talk about how universal this is. Night literally
Speaker 1: like we can prove that America wants a federal background
Speaker 1: check law. So again, that transcends where you live, how
Speaker 1: you live, how much money you make, how you vote.
Speaker 1: They should be if you have to have a license
Speaker 1: to drive a car, you should have a license to
Speaker 1: get a gun. You have to be able to go
Speaker 1: to the range, show that you know how to use it,
Speaker 1: show how to take care of it. Prof you know
Speaker 1: what say, lawmakers say when we say that, they say
Speaker 1: what say. Driving is not a right, it's a privilege.
Speaker 1: It's not in the second it's not a second amendment,
Speaker 1: it's not in the constitution. So I guess I just understannon.
Speaker 1: Of US agree on this, and there's not a whole
Speaker 1: lot of people in this country. We agreed on nine
Speaker 1: of US agree. So how does that take the power
Speaker 1: from percent of us? Is that lobbying? Is that corporate money? Like? What? How? How?
Speaker 1: It's a great question, and it is really when you
Speaker 1: go back to when the N R a stopped being
Speaker 1: sort of a hunting and fishing and safety organization and
Speaker 1: became a gun lobbying organization in the late seventies and
Speaker 1: they realized that they could pervert the second amendment in
Speaker 1: order to enrich gun manufacturers and gun obviousts, and that's
Speaker 1: exactly what they've done. They've become more and more radicalized
Speaker 1: as an organization because they've been pulled to the right,
Speaker 1: much like the tea party pulled Congress to the right.
Speaker 1: There are state gun groups. Almost every single state has one,
Speaker 1: and they are to the right of the N Ra.
Speaker 1: They believe any law whatsoever is an infringement on the
Speaker 1: Second Amendment, and so that base has pulled the n
Speaker 1: ray to believing really the same thing, which is we
Speaker 1: are going to support anything the mainstream America supports. We
Speaker 1: are going to be part of the extremist base. And
Speaker 1: as a result we see, you know, open carry being
Speaker 1: normalized and permitless carry being normalized and a lack of
Speaker 1: safety training and and all of these things that again,
Speaker 1: mainstream American support going out the window. And so we
Speaker 1: have to show up in state houses and really fight
Speaker 1: against the gun lobby. Um, as they try to endanger
Speaker 1: our communities. Um, but, but why, or why is this
Speaker 1: being allowed? The other thing that we did not account
Speaker 1: or was that guns would become an organizing principle in
Speaker 1: this country. Right. So, when you look at a very
Speaker 1: right wing agenda. When you look at the laws that
Speaker 1: are being passed that are are anti abortion or anti
Speaker 1: L G B T Q, All these different things. What
Speaker 1: is the thing that is the organizing principle around these issues?
Speaker 1: It's guns. Guns get people in the door, they raise money,
Speaker 1: they helped create a new customer base and they excite
Speaker 1: the base right and so what we're seeing is this
Speaker 1: this lobby investing in lawmakers that are worried about being primaried,
Speaker 1: they're worried about going against the gun lobby, and so
Speaker 1: they they have started doing these things that are incredibly radical.
Speaker 1: And Look, let's just be clear. The data shows that
Speaker 1: weak gun laws kill people. When you look at the
Speaker 1: states with strong gun laws, you see less gun death
Speaker 1: and less gun violence. When you look at states with
Speaker 1: weak gun laws, you see the opposite. It's it's it's intuitive,
Speaker 1: but it's also proven by data. Well, and we've got
Speaker 1: decades of data now. You know, it's it's not like
Speaker 1: this is something that's just sprung up and we're you know,
Speaker 1: it's not the pandemic. It's not, you know, something that's
Speaker 1: new to us and we're still sorting out. This has
Speaker 1: been going on for decades and we talked in our
Speaker 1: last episode about how our specific age group was the
Speaker 1: first age group to be in high school during Columbine
Speaker 1: and now have kids old enough to be in middle
Speaker 1: school in high school still dealing with it, and I
Speaker 1: find myself increasingly frustrated with my elders who didn't have
Speaker 1: to go through that, who aren't in in a panic
Speaker 1: when they dropped their kids off at school. I loved
Speaker 1: the pandemic because my kids were home with me and
Speaker 1: I didn't have to think about that, because if you're
Speaker 1: out there dropping your kids off in the drop offline,
Speaker 1: you're thinking about it. You know, I don't know any
Speaker 1: mother who isn't, or father, and so, you know, I
Speaker 1: think providing people on either side of the aisle with
Speaker 1: action like calls to action, like what do we do?
Speaker 1: US All agree on this one thing and our representatives
Speaker 1: are getting pushed by money in a different direction. What
Speaker 1: do we do? M Well, and that's one of the
Speaker 1: things that I will say has inspired me most about
Speaker 1: what you do, Shannon, and how you've led. You know,
Speaker 1: you're leading coalitions across the country. You've really helped a
Speaker 1: lot of us understand that this isn't a disagreement between neighbors.
Speaker 1: This is of us against a corporate interest that operates
Speaker 1: with billions of dollars in ways that most of us
Speaker 1: can't understand, because most of us, you know, the four
Speaker 1: of us on this show right now and our listeners
Speaker 1: at home, none of us has the power to call
Speaker 1: a state senator and and derail a law of their
Speaker 1: constituents voted in support of. You know, like that's not
Speaker 1: something most of us can do, and I think to
Speaker 1: realize that that's what we're up against, but also be
Speaker 1: bolstered by the hope and numbers, be bolstered by that,
Speaker 1: be bolstered by the nonpartisan truth of the fact that
Speaker 1: we agree on this issue. We don't agree with that corporation,
Speaker 1: but most of us agree with each other. You know that?
Speaker 1: That is the thing that gives me hope when I'm
Speaker 1: scrolling TIKTOK and I burst into tears because I see
Speaker 1: a parent post a video of her six year old
Speaker 1: son and she's doing bulletproof backpack drills with him in
Speaker 1: their house, like you guys aren't supposed to do this,
Speaker 1: like kids aren't supposed to live like this, and it
Speaker 1: only happens here, and so it's hard to it's hard
Speaker 1: to say like well, if it only had here, and
Speaker 1: that's what we're up against. What do we do? How
Speaker 1: do you give people pointers on how to even begin
Speaker 1: the conversation about gun violence in their families and then
Speaker 1: how to take this nearly universal agreement that it should
Speaker 1: end like out into their communities? So the first thing
Speaker 1: I want to say is there I have so much hope.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't wake up and do this work every single
Speaker 1: day as a full time volunteer if I didn't feel
Speaker 1: like we were winning. And you know, if you go
Speaker 1: back to two, Tho twelve, when we started doing this work,
Speaker 1: about a quarter of all democrats and Congress had an
Speaker 1: a rating from the N R A. Today none do.
Speaker 1: So that's the seismic shift in American politics. That having
Speaker 1: this coalition, this Badass Army of angry women and moms
Speaker 1: saying not in my community, you won't. That's what made
Speaker 1: that change. I mean we were literally cornering Democratic senators
Speaker 1: at their town halls and their house parties and their
Speaker 1: different meetings and saying how can you be on the
Speaker 1: side of the gun lobby? And they started changing their votes,
Speaker 1: they started being proud of their up ratings from the
Speaker 1: N R a. They wear pins now and we need
Speaker 1: every lawmaker, regardless of political party, to be on the
Speaker 1: right side of this issue and I was really heartened
Speaker 1: that last month when we celebrated the signing of the
Speaker 1: bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first federal gun legislation to
Speaker 1: pass in twenty six years, we had fifteen republicans sign on.
Speaker 1: You know, again we're seeing this shift and I think
Speaker 1: people get frustrated sometimes because they want wholesale, overnight change.
Speaker 1: You know, you there's this tweet I hate that says
Speaker 1: something like if we didn't change after Sandy Hook, we
Speaker 1: never will and and nothing could be further from the truth.
Speaker 1: So much is changed in a decade and this work
Speaker 1: is like drips on a rock. It is a marathon,
Speaker 1: not a sprint. INCREMENTALISM is frustrating, but it leads to
Speaker 1: revolutions and that is what we're seeing. So I would
Speaker 1: just say you have to use your voice, you have
Speaker 1: to use your vote on this issue. You know, women
Speaker 1: only hold about of the five hundred thousand elected positions
Speaker 1: in this country. We're only five percent of fortune, one
Speaker 1: tho C E O S. we're not making the laws
Speaker 1: and the policies that protect our families and community. So
Speaker 1: we have to get off the sidelines and get out
Speaker 1: there and fight for these changes. And and let me
Speaker 1: just give you an example. We have shown up at
Speaker 1: school boards for a decade. As a result, over two
Speaker 1: point five million families have received secure storage notifications from
Speaker 1: their school district saying you should keep your guns locked,
Speaker 1: unloaded and separate from ammunition. Two point five million families.
Speaker 1: Last night, Governor Knewso signed a bill that will require
Speaker 1: every family in the state of California to get that information.
Speaker 1: That means eight million kids in this country. We'll have
Speaker 1: these notifications now and and, like I said before, most
Speaker 1: school shooters are students who have easy access to guns
Speaker 1: in their home. Four point six million kids live in
Speaker 1: homes with unsecured guns. So, you know, showing up even
Speaker 1: at school boards or city councils or statehouses, it all
Speaker 1: adds up. That's awesome. Mid term elections are going to
Speaker 1: be a big deal. Yeah, we we just had a
Speaker 1: special election here in the Hudson Valley in New York
Speaker 1: where our Conservative leader was slated to win by a
Speaker 1: lot of points and he did not. Um a veteran
Speaker 1: who was pro ro and pro gun safety ended up
Speaker 1: winning and it was shocking. I mean it shocked the
Speaker 1: nation who was watching this and it and everyone was
Speaker 1: like the mom showed up. The MOM's exactly Pat Bryan
Speaker 1: will tell you, and he even tweeted this monster. Man
Speaker 1: Action Volunteers were his best door knockers. They showed up
Speaker 1: and he was supposed to lose by double digits and
Speaker 1: he won and he credits monstum in action for helping
Speaker 1: make that happen. I mean, we are literally everywhere and
Speaker 1: one thing we're really good at is getting out the vote.
Speaker 1: M Shannon, you've built this beautiful coalition and you've really
Speaker 1: transcended identity politics, like you've managed to just get people
Speaker 1: together on the facts and the truth and on passion
Speaker 1: for protecting their kids. How I mean because I think
Speaker 1: of the decade plus that I've known your work. How
Speaker 1: did you start? Because I know so many of us
Speaker 1: can sit at home and think I don't know what
Speaker 1: I can do, and you've helped all of us do this.
Speaker 1: How how did this begin? was there a final strong moment?
Speaker 1: was there something that you saw or heard that just
Speaker 1: made you go, I don't know what I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: but I have to do something. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: think so many other moms in America had the same
Speaker 1: idea I did that very cold December day when we
Speaker 1: were watching news unfold on the television and twenty children
Speaker 1: and six educators were slaughtered in the sanctity of an
Speaker 1: American elementary school. And and it was just kind of
Speaker 1: like we can't live like this and our children sure
Speaker 1: as hell should not die like this. And I can
Speaker 1: remember going online. At the time I lived in Indiana
Speaker 1: and I thought I want to join something like mothers
Speaker 1: against drunk driving, which was so influential to me as
Speaker 1: a teen in the eighties. Yeah, Oh my God, they
Speaker 1: were a huge they change of drunk driving, you know,
Speaker 1: and and the laws, I mean they were just like
Speaker 1: unstoppable angry bombs. And I wanted to join something like
Speaker 1: that for gun safety. And I went online and I
Speaker 1: found some think tanks, mostly run by men, some state organizations,
Speaker 1: mostly run by men. So I just created a facebook page,
Speaker 1: not to start an organization, just to have the conversation.
Speaker 1: And you know, you all, I'm sure, are type A
Speaker 1: women and moms like they started calling me and emailing
Speaker 1: me and texting me and and saying like I want
Speaker 1: to do this where I live. And and and really we
Speaker 1: didn't know what this was. In fact, I think we
Speaker 1: thought rallies and marches, but it became really clear really
Speaker 1: quickly that this was organizing in the same way the
Speaker 1: gunmaby did, with boots on the ground, an army that
Speaker 1: could go toe to toe with a special interest. And
Speaker 1: here we are, ten years later, we have ten million
Speaker 1: supporters and we're twice as large as the interact. So cool,
Speaker 1: you're no, it's these women. They're amazing. It's so, so cool. So,
Speaker 1: for people at home who are not acquainted with your organization,
Speaker 1: what is the best way for them to get up
Speaker 1: to speed and to learn about how they can connect
Speaker 1: with other people in their community, um to, you know,
Speaker 1: raise their voice, to get involved and to also have
Speaker 1: productive conversations with their children? I am the mother of
Speaker 1: a twelve year old boy. I know that boys are
Speaker 1: being radicalized in our country. Understand and what talking points
Speaker 1: I can bring up with him and his friends is
Speaker 1: important to me. And so where can other women find
Speaker 1: those resources? You bring up such a good point, which
Speaker 1: is we should all be watching our boys and young
Speaker 1: men online. And what are they exposed to and what
Speaker 1: are they seeing? Because, especially during covid we are seeing
Speaker 1: more and more kids being radicalized into being gun extremists
Speaker 1: and to committing hate crimes and and of course they
Speaker 1: have easy access to things like a r fifteens in
Speaker 1: this country. Right. So you bring up a really important point. Um, look,
Speaker 1: if you want to learn more about lockdown drills and
Speaker 1: the research we have that shows really they they cause
Speaker 1: depression and anxiety, they aren't effective and stopping mass shootings. Um,
Speaker 1: you can go to every town dot Org. There's so
Speaker 1: much different research there. Every town is the umbrella that
Speaker 1: MOM's demand action and students demand action are under. If
Speaker 1: you want to learn about secure storage and even how
Speaker 1: to ask the question when you send your kid to
Speaker 1: friends and families homes, the website for that is be
Speaker 1: smart for Kids Dot Org, and you'll learn all kinds
Speaker 1: of you know, I do it through text right. Do
Speaker 1: you have a game around your pool? Um, do you
Speaker 1: let your kids play and rated video games? And, by
Speaker 1: the way, do you have guns and how are they secured?
Speaker 1: So they're really easy ways to do that. And then
Speaker 1: the last thing I would say is you don't have
Speaker 1: to be a mom. Were mothers and others. Now, if
Speaker 1: you want to join moms to man action or students
Speaker 1: to man action, just text the word ready to six
Speaker 1: four four three three, six four four three three, yep, ready, Yep.
Speaker 1: That's such a great resource. And I will say there
Speaker 1: are there specific policy uh that that you guys, policies
Speaker 1: that you guys are putting forward right now, that people
Speaker 1: can look out for that are not going to be
Speaker 1: scary for people who, you know, want they want the
Speaker 1: rights that they have, the right to own their guns.
Speaker 1: They want, you know, we're all gun owners, but to
Speaker 1: do it in a safe way where it's not a
Speaker 1: scary thing that we're looking out like, oh no, they're
Speaker 1: trying to remove our rights from us, but a policy
Speaker 1: that is going to really unite everyone. What are the
Speaker 1: things that we can look for in our in our voting? Yes,
Speaker 1: and you bring up a really good point, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, we are not anti gun. We're not against
Speaker 1: the second amendment. Many of our volunteers are gun owners
Speaker 1: or their partners are gun owners. There's four hundred million
Speaker 1: guns in this country right they're all gun owners. I
Speaker 1: mean that's like a it's a really common thing and
Speaker 1: the rhetoric, I think, is so scary. You know exactly.
Speaker 1: And so we just want to restore the responsibilities that
Speaker 1: should go along with gun rights and that includes a
Speaker 1: background check on every gun sale. Um, hopefully, you know,
Speaker 1: we will have federal legislation that that closes all the loopholes. But,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, we just had the BI partisan Savor
Speaker 1: Communities Act, which is a huge step forward, Um, and
Speaker 1: and we are in the meantime working on that legislation
Speaker 1: in the states. So, as I mentioned, we've passed background
Speaker 1: checks now at twenty one states. We've passed laws that
Speaker 1: disarmed domestic abusers in twenty nine states. M We've closed
Speaker 1: so many to at loopholes. Were passing secure storage laws.
Speaker 1: This is again just about the responsibility to go along
Speaker 1: with gun rights. You should have a background check, you
Speaker 1: should have a permit, you should have a certain amount
Speaker 1: of rigorous gun safety training, right experience. That we most
Speaker 1: American support. And also, you know, eighteen year old shouldn't
Speaker 1: have access to weapons of war. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: we can all agree on it. If you have a kid,
Speaker 1: you know that. You're twenty one year old son, you know,
Speaker 1: is nowhere near ready to hand. They don't even have
Speaker 1: their own health insurance, you know what I mean, like
Speaker 1: they're still on your phone plan kids, right. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't think you should have access to something like that
Speaker 1: before your prefrontal Cortex is done developing, and that shouldn't
Speaker 1: be controversial. Rent a car, you shouldn't have an air
Speaker 1: of team girl. That is the point, right. Yes, I
Speaker 1: follow vote vets. I grew up in a military home
Speaker 1: and and so I really appreciate their take on the
Speaker 1: gun reform and, you know, legislation in our country. Are
Speaker 1: there other organizations that you would recommend people look into? Yes,
Speaker 1: I love fair fight. I think that's a really important
Speaker 1: organization about freedom and voting. Um, I think you should
Speaker 1: get involved it's something that you're passionate about, right. So,
Speaker 1: if it's voting rights, if it's Um abortion rights, you know,
Speaker 1: if it's school boards. I mean it's really kind of
Speaker 1: scary what's happening in our country with school boards. So look,
Speaker 1: if you if you Google those organizations and you're passionate
Speaker 1: about something like find what fits. It doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be a national organization or, you know, you could start
Speaker 1: something yourself, right. I mean, if you are passionate about something,
Speaker 1: there's no reason that you can't create this in your
Speaker 1: neighborhood or your community or your state. Um. I just
Speaker 1: think it's so important, though, to get off the sidelines,
Speaker 1: just find what you're passionate about and agree that you're
Speaker 1: going to give an hour or two a week if
Speaker 1: that's all you can afford to do. But it does
Speaker 1: all add up and I'm just really impressed by, you know,
Speaker 1: one organization that I do love. I just met the
Speaker 1: one when you're a woman who runs it. It's called
Speaker 1: Mother's against Greg Abbott, and they're so amazing. I mean
Speaker 1: that they are just doing such great things in the
Speaker 1: state of Texas because they're angry about a whole host
Speaker 1: of issues. Like there should be. There should be a
Speaker 1: mom's demand abortion action. There should be a mom's demand,
Speaker 1: you know, whatever that is like. We should just be
Speaker 1: creating coalitions and working together, because that's that's kind of
Speaker 1: you know, Alice Walker said democracy this. You know, activism
Speaker 1: is the rent I pay to live on the planet,
Speaker 1: and that's what a democracy. I love what you were
Speaker 1: saying about that you wouldn't do this job if there
Speaker 1: weren't hope, and I think that has got to be
Speaker 1: the bottom line. And these things that feel like David
Speaker 1: and Goliath problems for us, whether it's homelessness or gun
Speaker 1: rights or you know, I mean whatever. The list goes
Speaker 1: on and on. But you have to find a center
Speaker 1: of hope that is your beacon. Otherwise it just feels
Speaker 1: to behemoth. There's just no way to get through it.
Speaker 1: So I'm so glad to hear that you feel that
Speaker 1: in your work, that when you wake up in the
Speaker 1: morning you're like, I see the hope. Never join an
Speaker 1: organization where there isn't joy in activism, because I don't
Speaker 1: think you can keep going unless you feel hopeful and
Speaker 1: joyful and you find your community people. That's that's what
Speaker 1: keeps people involved. One of the things that gives me
Speaker 1: so much joy, Shannon, is you know, things are on
Speaker 1: fire a lot lately. It's been a really intense a
Speaker 1: couple of years for everybody, and some days I get
Speaker 1: on instagram just to go to your page and I
Speaker 1: scroll to find where you've posted a slide show, because
Speaker 1: you'll post like ten wins and you'll be like this
Speaker 1: amazing woman, one elected office in this state and this
Speaker 1: incredible thing happened in this community. Got This law path
Speaker 1: us in this school did this and I'm just like God.
Speaker 1: I needed that. I needed that dose of good news
Speaker 1: and things to celebrate, and it it does. You know,
Speaker 1: enjoy your right. It really helps us put in perspective when,
Speaker 1: when we feel small and scared, to realize that everywhere
Speaker 1: around us people are winning and succeeding. Every little bit counts. Yeah, alright,
Speaker 1: we're Allan you put us to work. We have an army, yes, ma'am,
Speaker 1: for November, just in time. Yeah, ma'am, it's important that
Speaker 1: we care. We did a TV show about caring so
Speaker 1: much about everything, and so if we can turn that
Speaker 1: into real life care, awesome. You know what a reward?
Speaker 1: I love it. It's it. It's so nice to see you,
Speaker 1: wonderful to meet you. Thank you for having me on
Speaker 1: and thank you for shining a light on this issue,
Speaker 1: which again, because gun violence is the leading cause of
Speaker 1: death among teens and kids. Are Children and teens. We
Speaker 1: all have a role to play, and whether it's asking
Speaker 1: people about how they secure their story, their guns, whether
Speaker 1: we do it ourselves, whether it's advocating in school boards
Speaker 1: and city councils and states this, we all have a
Speaker 1: role to play, whether we're gun owners or not. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I will say, I don't know if I've ever shared
Speaker 1: this with you, Shannon, but years ago, Um, when all
Speaker 1: the coalitions worked on that friendly fire campaign to illuminate
Speaker 1: the fact that so many kids in this country get
Speaker 1: injured or killed, Um, when they find unsecured guns. I realized,
Speaker 1: and this was before any of my you know, friends
Speaker 1: who I see at my house regularly, I had had kids.
Speaker 1: Y'All are in different states, um, but I realized, like
Speaker 1: as as a gun owner, I have always been very
Speaker 1: clear about a secure place, but I did not have
Speaker 1: our guns in a gun save and I was like
Speaker 1: here I am helping to a voice over for a campaign,
Speaker 1: gotta go, and I like went right down to the
Speaker 1: shop and bought a safe and was like it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter that they're in a secure place and that there
Speaker 1: aren't ever kids in my house. There could be and
Speaker 1: there will be, and it was it was cool to
Speaker 1: feel like I learned something instead of like I got
Speaker 1: shamed into something. And you've been so instrumental at helping
Speaker 1: so many of us learn where we can be better,
Speaker 1: do better, do more, and I think that's what we
Speaker 1: need more of. And so I know Hillary was asking
Speaker 1: about all the other organizations, including your own, that people
Speaker 1: can look to for that kind of inspiration. Again, another
Speaker 1: shout out of Vovets. Just love them so much. But
Speaker 1: but for people who feel inspired, where, where should our
Speaker 1: listeners go today to be up on all that you're
Speaker 1: doing and to add their voices to the fight? That
Speaker 1: would be great good. MONSTERMAN ACTION DOT Org. Or text
Speaker 1: the word ready to six F four three three. The
Speaker 1: thing I love is that we have this whole group
Speaker 1: of volunteers and their job is to call and welcome
Speaker 1: new volunteers. Um every time there's a horfect shooting tragedy,
Speaker 1: and there were so many the summer, sadly, people get
Speaker 1: off the sidelines and so it's really important that we
Speaker 1: can say to people here's what you can do in
Speaker 1: your community next week, here's an event coming up near you,
Speaker 1: here's what you can do to get out the vote.
Speaker 1: So I promise you, if you text were ready to six,
Speaker 1: four three three, you'll get a call back and we
Speaker 1: will tell you exactly how to plug in where you live.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming, Shannon. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: I read the coolest tweet recently that I sent to her.
Speaker 1: Somebody posted it and said the thing nobody talks about
Speaker 1: is that the Second Amendment was ratified before bullets existed.
Speaker 1: I mean it was must get shot. It was like
Speaker 1: it was must get shot and powder, those little round
Speaker 1: balls that went in muskets one at a time, with
Speaker 1: guns forever. Yeah, and I was like, Oh my God,
Speaker 1: it's so insane that we've we have this big fight
Speaker 1: when the thing we're fighting about didn't even exist. When
Speaker 1: the when the thing we're fighting it would be like
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, do you know what I mean? Like
Speaker 1: I went to joy's point cars, you gotta go to school,
Speaker 1: you gotta get a license, you gotta take tests regularly.
Speaker 1: It's like we're just asking for some something sensible. I
Speaker 1: think it's just that, you know, people are scared of
Speaker 1: what they don't know, and it feels like what you
Speaker 1: were saying, Hilary. It's so scary. The narrative is so
Speaker 1: scared and don't take away my guns, and it's like
Speaker 1: nobody's trying to do that. We're just trying to make
Speaker 1: it more responsible so that the wrong people don't get
Speaker 1: their hands on it. That's what's going on. Yeah, Pete,
Speaker 1: Buddha said the best thing. A couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: There was a mom's demand. Helped with a big gun
Speaker 1: sense for him in Iowa during the last presidential primary
Speaker 1: and when, you know, when they were still seventeen candidate
Speaker 1: and pete was up there talking and he's a veteran
Speaker 1: and he was like, Hey, guys, we have this whole
Speaker 1: conversation about a well regulated militia, keywords well and regulated.
Speaker 1: He goes, I'm a military veteran. There's a line. You
Speaker 1: can't own a Predator drone. You just can't have one
Speaker 1: as a citizen. And he goes and I gotta be honest,
Speaker 1: as a man who carried one of these weapons in war,
Speaker 1: you shouldn't have one and I'm not in the army
Speaker 1: anymore and neither should i. and I just was like
Speaker 1: you're my hero. That was incredible. You can't have a
Speaker 1: Predator drone. I'll never forget it. No, you know, the
Speaker 1: upside is Um is not there. And then the sales
Speaker 1: teams want to make you feel like, oh, there's all
Speaker 1: this horrible stuff happening in the world. If you just
Speaker 1: own one of our toys, it'll protect your family, and
Speaker 1: so that cycle of salesmanship continues and I think the
Speaker 1: data is on the side of no. You know, if
Speaker 1: you put a bear trap in your house, someone's come
Speaker 1: to step on it. Exactly, Um. And you know, to
Speaker 1: make a TV show about this fifteen years ago and
Speaker 1: to still be talking about it is hard. But Shannon
Speaker 1: gives me hope that there's two progress being made. And
Speaker 1: you know what, it's so inspiring to be reminded that
Speaker 1: you don't have to wait for someone in some office
Speaker 1: to fix it. Like a group of MOMS can get
Speaker 1: together and get it done. MOMS are terrifying. A group
Speaker 1: of MOMS will always get it done when they get together.
Speaker 1: I tell you, I'm here for it. Here's to MOMS,
Speaker 1: here's to angry MOMS. Have a drink, but my favorite
Speaker 1: kind of ladies this is coffee, but I'll pretend to talk.
Speaker 1: Come on, we're responsible. Well, I love you girls, love
Speaker 1: you guys so much. I'm glad. We are glad we
Speaker 1: did this. Thank you. Thanks, Sophia, for introducing US to Shannon.
Speaker 1: That was very cool, and Um, to our friends at home.
Speaker 1: You know, we don't have all the answers, but what
Speaker 1: we do get excited about is when somebody illuminates hope
Speaker 1: for us to move forward. So we hope that Um this.
Speaker 1: This special episode was able to give you a little
Speaker 1: bit of hope, because, Oh man, last week was lacking
Speaker 1: a lot of it. Yeah, that was a top episode. Well, UM,
Speaker 1: hopefully the next one will start to recover a bit.
Speaker 1: Fingers crossed. We'll see you, guys in three seventeen. I
Speaker 1: love you all. Hey, thanks for listening. Don't forget to
Speaker 1: leave us a review. You can also follow us on
Speaker 1: Instagram at drama queens o t h or email us
Speaker 1: at drama queens at I heart radio DOT com. See
Speaker 1: you next time. We are all about that high school drama. Girl, drama, girl,
Speaker 1: all about them high school queens. We'll take you for
Speaker 1: a ride at our comic girl cheering for the right
Speaker 1: drama Queens. Go Up, girl, fast him, but your tough girl.
Speaker 1: You could sit with us. Girl, drama, Queeze, drama, Queeze, drama,
Speaker 1: Queen's drama, drama, Queen's drama Queens.