Gun violence panelists express support for Hillary

by Marcy Rothenberg

First posted to Let's Talk Nation, May 18, 2016

Cynics who say that voting is a waste of time because it doesn’t matter who is elected would have been hard pressed to make that point at a May 16 gun violence panel discussion led by two Los Angeles political leaders, two L.A. moms who between them lost three sons to gun violence, and astronaut Mark Kelly and his wife, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

To a person, they all declared the importance of electing Hillary Clinton, naming her as the only candidate in the 2016 presidential campaign who has stood with them through the years on gun violence prevention issues.

Held at Homeboy Industries in downtown L.A. and moderated by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a long-time Clinton supporter who authored California’s assault weapon ban while in the State Assembly and supported trigger law and safe storage legislation, the panel discussion drew a packed house of some 50 invited guests to the company’s upstairs meeting room.

“I know these issues,” Villaraigosa declared. “I know the Democrats who have been on the front lines of this issue. Hillary Clinton is no Johnny-come-lately. She’s taken tough votes on manufacturer immunity. She’s supported a national assault weapons ban, legislation on straw purchasers…she has said if we don’t pass universal background checks, she’s gonna see what she can do through executive action.”

Introducing panelist Mike Feuer, the current L.A. City Attorney, Villaraigosa praised his commitment to the issue, saying, “Mike Feuer was there as a [L.A. City] councilmember on the issue of gun violence – he put it front and center.”

Feuer explained that he was speaking “as a dad, as a former state legislator who’s written gun legislation, as a former City Councilmember who’s done the same there, but particularly as the city’s top prosecutor. In that role…I have walked down streets in the past year where a fence at a local high school separating the athletic field from a sidewalk has to be reinforced to repel bullets.”

“I have walked down streets…where, fence after fence, there’s bullet hole after bullet hole…where the dad who lives in [one] house won’t let his kids sleep in beds because beds are above window sill level and stray bullets could injure his kids.”

“That’s in this city. Today. And not just in certain neighborhoods…I have friends in this room who recall the North Valley Jewish Community Center shooting in 1999, where a shooter on a rampage shot kids…I remember going to the hospital and waiting in a tiny waiting room with the parents of a 5-year-old boy…the same age as one of my kids at the time.”

“This is not an issue for somebody else,” Feuer asserted. “This is an issue for every American. There’s only one candidate I have trusted…from the inception of this presidential election…to stand up for every American on the issue of gun violence. There’s only one choice in this race…it has never been a difficult choice for me. I’m honored to be with Hillary Clinton.”

Kelly reinforced those remarks, speaking for himself and his wife in declaring that “we’re in the grips of a gun violence crisis. Thirty-three thousand Americans die every year from gun violence. More children die from gun violence than in auto accidents – and one of the reasons is that we’ve driven down the number of people who die in accidents by paying attention to the problem, by taking proactive steps. We haven’t done the same thing when it comes to gun violence.”

The United States Congress, Kelly argued, “remains in the grip of a very powerful corporate interest: the gun lobby. And the gun lobby, unfortunately for all of us, has blocked common sense change. They have collectively protected loopholes that let dangerous people get their hands on guns, and they have intimidated former presidents into inaction. It doesn’t need to be that way.”

“Congress has moved further and further away from gun owners like Gabby and me, who are the responsible gun owners they claim to represent. And a lot of people running for President have talked about how tough they are, but let me tell you a secret: they’re terrified of the gun lobby.”

After looking at all of the Presidential candidates, Kelly continued, it became very clear to Giffords and him “that there is only one candidate – not only left in this race, but only one candidate that has ever been in this race – that has the determination and the toughness to stand up to a very powerful corporate interest and also has the record to prove it, and a plan to create an America for our kids and our grandkids that is safer from gun violence. And that candidate is Hillary Clinton.”

Personal becomes political

For Los Angeles moms Kathy Wooten and Rhonda Foster, the personal became political with the death of their sons – Wooten’s two sons, Brandon, 26, and Kuwan, 24, slain by gunfire within a 52-day span in 2008; and Foster’s 7-year-old son Evan, killed in the crossfire of a gang shooting at the local park where she’d driven him to pick up his soccer trophy in 1997. His infant brother, Alec, was wounded.

Both women spoke of the devastating impact those murders had on their families, and shared how they turned grief into action by becoming gun safety and youth services advocates.

“My family will never be the same,” Wooten said. “We struggle every day, emotionally, mentally and socially. People say it gets better, and it does, but the pain just stays. I’m now an intervention crisis worker through the Mayor’s Office. It helps me to help other people. We do a Mother’s Day brunch every year…when you lose a child, you don’t want to come out on Mother’s Day, but we have found the strength to come out every year and celebrate together.”

“For me and my house, for me and my family” – which includes her three surviving children, their families and her late sons’ 7 children – “and most of my community, we support Hillary Clinton. When we as a community stand for no more violence in our community…none at all, period…then we will see better days.”

Foster started her remarks by showing a family photo, taken just three months before Evan’s death in December 1997. “It helps to put a face on this. Evan…he was just an awesome kid…he loved people, he loved life, he loved celebrating, he always sought to do his best. He loved being a big brother. He would visit his dad’s office and go into people’s offices to ask how they were doing…he would go into the pastor’s office after church and ask him how he was. We only learned these things after his life was taken.”

“Two weeks before his death, he had a school assignment – what would you do if you were President? He said, ‘if I were President, I would go to people who cause harm to others and tell them to go to church.’ He understood at 7 years old…”

Evan’s legacy inspired the Fosters to start working with young people, reaching out to gang members and to youth in prisons, sharing Evan’s story in hopes that gang members and young people imprisoned for gun crimes might understand how their actions impact their own communities. Foster also joined Women Against Gun Violence and serves today on its board of directors.

“We met President Clinton last month at an event,” she recalled, “and I told him that I’m very appreciative that this is part of Hillary’s platform. Every office, from President on…we need to support and encourage candidates who are making [gun violence] part of their platform. That’s the way we can turn this around.”

But it was Gabby Giffords, who spoke the least during the panel – still challenged to voice her thoughts following the 2011 shooting that nearly claimed her life – but brought the audience to tears nonetheless. “Speaking is difficult for me, but come January, I want to say these two words: Madame President. Let’s work together to make Hillary our president!”