March 20, 2000
Sisters take on Moms
to support gun rights
By Valerie Richardson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
As Debra Collins tells it, she became a Second
Amendment Sister the night a gun saved her from a
beating by her abusive ex-husband.
In 1985, Mrs. Collins was staying at her mother's
house when her ex-husband broke in at 4 a.m. and
threatened to kill her. Grabbing a shotgun, she held
him at bay until the police arrived.
"I had been beaten waiting for the police before,"
she recalled. "I've learned that a gun is the only thing
that will level the playing field for a woman who's
being attacked."
That's why Mrs. Collins, 36, is taking on the
Million Mom March, a national anti-gun rally planned
for Mother's Day. She recently signed on as
Colorado state coordinator of the Second
Amendment Sisters, a newly formed grass-roots
women's group promoting the idea that guns are "a
woman's friend," she said.
The Dallas-based group is organizing the Armed
Informed Mothers March, a counterprotest
scheduled for May 14, the same day as the Million
Mom March. Both events are being held in
Washington and other major cities.
"We just have to make sure that people don't
think the million moms speak for all women," said
Mrs. Collins.
Whether the Sisters will be heard over the Moms
is another question. Members of the Million Mom
March's steering committee include some of the
nation's most powerful gun-control organizations,
including the Bell Campaign, the Coalition to Stop
Gun Violence, and Handgun Control Inc.
The Million Mom March is the brainchild of
Donna Dees-Thomases, a New Jersey mother of
two and publicist for talk-show host David
Letterman, who says she applied for a permit to
march on the Mall in reaction to the shooting at the
Granada Hills, Calif., day-camp in August.
Organizers are appealing to mothers and fathers
troubled by the recent rash of school shootings,
including the April 20 massacre at Columbine High
School in Littleton, Colo., where 13 persons were
slain by two teen-age gunmen.
The march's agenda is the passage of
"common-sense gun laws," including requiring
licensing and registration for all firearms, mandatory
safety locks for handguns, a limit of one handgun
purchase per month, as well as "no-nonsense"
enforcement of existing gun laws.
"We want Congress to create a meaningful gun
policy in this country that treats guns like cars," said
Mrs. Dees-Thomases. "We are asking Congress to
enact sensible laws or face a 'time-out' in
November."
The march has lined up sponsors ranging from big
corporations like StrideRite, Northwest Airlines,
Guess and Oxygen.com, to small businesses like
Little Eric's Shoe Store in Millburn, N.J. Its site on
the Internet, www.millionmommarch.com, gives
cheeky "Apple Pie Awards" to political allies like
President Clinton, as well as stints in the "Time Out
Chair" for political opponents, such as House
Majority Whip Tom DeLay.
"adly, getting some lawmakers to act
reasonably is about as difficult as getting our kids to
clean their rooms," according to a Million Mom press
release. "If we've told them once, we've told them a
hundred times. But still the majority of Congress
doesn't pass laws to keep guns out of the wrong
hands — even in the wake of Columbine."
A spokeswoman for Million Moms said she was
aware of the Second Amendment Sisters, but the
group had no comment on the countermarch by
press time.
A grass-roots, Dallas-based group founded in
January, the Second Amendment Sisters lacks the
Moms' clout, but organizers are confident that "with
U.S. gun owners numbering near 80 million, we
should be able to beat back the Million Mom
attack," according to their literature. Three months
into their campaign, organizers already have branches
in 13 states, including Arkansas, California, New
York and Virginia.
Kimberly Watson, one of the group's founders,
said the Second Amendment Sisters was begun "to
let Congress know that we won't stand for having
our right to defend our families ripped away."
The organization emphasizes self-defense, safety
education and responsible parenting as the solutions
for violence against children. Like the National Rifle
Association and other pro-firearms groups, the
Sisters stress the importance of enforcing current
laws instead of passing more.
"Any further erosion of the Second Amendment
serves only to harm women and their families," said
Mrs. Watson. "Violent criminals don't care how
many new laws are made for the children — in fact,
a crush of new laws will make it that much easier for
criminals to take advantage of children and their
mothers."
The sisters' Internet site, www.SAS-AIM.org,
warns, "Hey, Annie. . . . They're comin' to git yer
gun!" Its statistics sheet reports that in 1998, one of
every 33 women was a victim of a violent crime.
According to the National Research Opinion Center,
44 percent of adult women either own or have
access to firearms.
Mrs. Collins has personal reasons for opposing
the Million Moms' agenda. She got the shotgun she
used to fend off her ex-husband from her
20-year-old boyfriend, who wouldn't have been able
to buy a gun under proposals to raise the legal age to
21. And she didn't have to fumble with a trigger lock
before she aimed the gun at her ex-husband.
"The root of the problem is really with our morals
and family life. Guns have been around forever, but
these mass shootings are a recent phenomenon," said
Mrs. Collins. "It has to do with societal values. You
can't legislate morality, and that's what the million
moms are trying to do."
------------------
"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."
Sisters take on Moms
to support gun rights
By Valerie Richardson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
As Debra Collins tells it, she became a Second
Amendment Sister the night a gun saved her from a
beating by her abusive ex-husband.
In 1985, Mrs. Collins was staying at her mother's
house when her ex-husband broke in at 4 a.m. and
threatened to kill her. Grabbing a shotgun, she held
him at bay until the police arrived.
"I had been beaten waiting for the police before,"
she recalled. "I've learned that a gun is the only thing
that will level the playing field for a woman who's
being attacked."
That's why Mrs. Collins, 36, is taking on the
Million Mom March, a national anti-gun rally planned
for Mother's Day. She recently signed on as
Colorado state coordinator of the Second
Amendment Sisters, a newly formed grass-roots
women's group promoting the idea that guns are "a
woman's friend," she said.
The Dallas-based group is organizing the Armed
Informed Mothers March, a counterprotest
scheduled for May 14, the same day as the Million
Mom March. Both events are being held in
Washington and other major cities.
"We just have to make sure that people don't
think the million moms speak for all women," said
Mrs. Collins.
Whether the Sisters will be heard over the Moms
is another question. Members of the Million Mom
March's steering committee include some of the
nation's most powerful gun-control organizations,
including the Bell Campaign, the Coalition to Stop
Gun Violence, and Handgun Control Inc.
The Million Mom March is the brainchild of
Donna Dees-Thomases, a New Jersey mother of
two and publicist for talk-show host David
Letterman, who says she applied for a permit to
march on the Mall in reaction to the shooting at the
Granada Hills, Calif., day-camp in August.
Organizers are appealing to mothers and fathers
troubled by the recent rash of school shootings,
including the April 20 massacre at Columbine High
School in Littleton, Colo., where 13 persons were
slain by two teen-age gunmen.
The march's agenda is the passage of
"common-sense gun laws," including requiring
licensing and registration for all firearms, mandatory
safety locks for handguns, a limit of one handgun
purchase per month, as well as "no-nonsense"
enforcement of existing gun laws.
"We want Congress to create a meaningful gun
policy in this country that treats guns like cars," said
Mrs. Dees-Thomases. "We are asking Congress to
enact sensible laws or face a 'time-out' in
November."
The march has lined up sponsors ranging from big
corporations like StrideRite, Northwest Airlines,
Guess and Oxygen.com, to small businesses like
Little Eric's Shoe Store in Millburn, N.J. Its site on
the Internet, www.millionmommarch.com, gives
cheeky "Apple Pie Awards" to political allies like
President Clinton, as well as stints in the "Time Out
Chair" for political opponents, such as House
Majority Whip Tom DeLay.
"
reasonably is about as difficult as getting our kids to
clean their rooms," according to a Million Mom press
release. "If we've told them once, we've told them a
hundred times. But still the majority of Congress
doesn't pass laws to keep guns out of the wrong
hands — even in the wake of Columbine."
A spokeswoman for Million Moms said she was
aware of the Second Amendment Sisters, but the
group had no comment on the countermarch by
press time.
A grass-roots, Dallas-based group founded in
January, the Second Amendment Sisters lacks the
Moms' clout, but organizers are confident that "with
U.S. gun owners numbering near 80 million, we
should be able to beat back the Million Mom
attack," according to their literature. Three months
into their campaign, organizers already have branches
in 13 states, including Arkansas, California, New
York and Virginia.
Kimberly Watson, one of the group's founders,
said the Second Amendment Sisters was begun "to
let Congress know that we won't stand for having
our right to defend our families ripped away."
The organization emphasizes self-defense, safety
education and responsible parenting as the solutions
for violence against children. Like the National Rifle
Association and other pro-firearms groups, the
Sisters stress the importance of enforcing current
laws instead of passing more.
"Any further erosion of the Second Amendment
serves only to harm women and their families," said
Mrs. Watson. "Violent criminals don't care how
many new laws are made for the children — in fact,
a crush of new laws will make it that much easier for
criminals to take advantage of children and their
mothers."
The sisters' Internet site, www.SAS-AIM.org,
warns, "Hey, Annie. . . . They're comin' to git yer
gun!" Its statistics sheet reports that in 1998, one of
every 33 women was a victim of a violent crime.
According to the National Research Opinion Center,
44 percent of adult women either own or have
access to firearms.
Mrs. Collins has personal reasons for opposing
the Million Moms' agenda. She got the shotgun she
used to fend off her ex-husband from her
20-year-old boyfriend, who wouldn't have been able
to buy a gun under proposals to raise the legal age to
21. And she didn't have to fumble with a trigger lock
before she aimed the gun at her ex-husband.
"The root of the problem is really with our morals
and family life. Guns have been around forever, but
these mass shootings are a recent phenomenon," said
Mrs. Collins. "It has to do with societal values. You
can't legislate morality, and that's what the million
moms are trying to do."
------------------
"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."