Letters like Sanjev Rajaram’s (The News, May 31, 2019) are why I volunteer with Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense.
This is a wonderful opportunity to explain some of the work we do to prevent gun violence, because it’s not clear from his letter that he understands.
For example, the Wear Orange movement is intended to promote gun safety for everybody—women and children, hunters and hobbyists, rural and urban.
One of the major goals of Wear Orange Day is to promote responsible storage that would make guns and ammunition inaccessible to children and other adults who are not authorized to have them.
Surely Mr. Rajaram opposes unintentional shootings or gun suicides by children and teens. Our area isn’t immune to either of these risks.
And the fact that public mass shootings are relatively rare doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive to make sure that children or even adult children living at home can’t access their parents’ guns to commit one. I do hope we agree on this point.
I applaud Mr. Rajaram for pointing out that gun murders are rare in the West Windsor area; it is an indicator that our strong state and local gun laws work. Still, murder isn’t the only way to be harmed by a gun.
To that end, we worked with every police department in Mercer County to bring our Be SMART gun safety program materials to every National Night Out location last August. I invite him to stop by our West Windsor table this year and talk with us to learn more.
Mr. Rajaram’s portrait of gang violence as an issue that should not matter to those of us who are not members of gangs should perhaps be saved for another letter.
Rebecca Jacobsen
Jacobsen works with Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America as a volunteer educator.
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