Activists from Moms Demand have been attending town halls nationwide hosted by elected officials who are back home in their districts for the annual August recess. They carried on their monthlong break even after a string of mass shootings. These constituents turned out to question their do-nothing representatives and to demand action on common sense gun law reforms.
Rep. Steve Womack (AR-03) took questions from concerned constituents who want him to act, drawing loud boos and jeers, as seen in the two videos below, as he blamed single parents, “Godless schools”, a lack of spanking and social media for the rash of mass shootings, despite the fact shootings such as Columbine happened long before the invention of social media.
In Kansas, Rep. Steve Watkins faced crowd resistance after he couldn’t articulate why he voted against renewing the Violence Against Women Act. Watkins kept repeating it had a “poison pill” that prevented him from voting to reauthorize the 1994 bill. Watkins promised a press release on the issue, but never did expand on it. Instead, he put out a press release touting his town hall appearances and his "commitment to the Second Amendment", as well as “pushing back against the so-called “Squad.” Watkins may not want to admit it directly to his consitituents, but he was doing the NRA’s bidding by voting against the VAWA. Here’s the likely cause of his “no” vote on VAWA:
It would also close the so-called "boyfriend loophole" to expand existing firearm prohibitions to include dating partners convicted of abuse or stalking charges. "Sometimes things are as simple as this: If we are doing a Violence Against Women Act and we are trying to save lives, why would you not close a simple loophole that says if someone has been convicted — convicted, not accused — convicted of domestic violence, that they not have access to a gun," said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., who has shared her experiences growing up with an abusive father who owned a gun in her efforts to get the bill passed.
The NRA called for a "no" vote and notified Capitol Hill offices this week that the organization was "scoring" how lawmakers vote on the bill to measure future ratings and endorsements in elections. Congressional Republicans rarely run afoul of NRA positions on legislation.
Mass shooters typically have a history of abusing women in their own circles first. It is one of the biggest red flags of all.
These town halls are important because your elected representatives need to hear from you directly. Check the Town Hall Project for regularly updated listings of town halls with elected officials nationwide.