Our program on July 9 featured Margy Heldring, Co-Chair of Grandmothers Against Gun Violence.
Margy is a retired clinical psychologist. She has served as clinical faculty in the University of Washington Department of Family Medicine. In addition, she was a health care legislative assistant to two former U.S. Senators: Bill Bradley and Paul Wellstone. She was a senior policy advisor on Bill Bradley’s presidential campaign, and was the founder and Executive Director of the national nonprofit, America’s HealthTogether. She delights in being a thriving grandmother.
Grandmothers Against Gun Violence was formed in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings and is an advocacy group seeking changes in gun laws.
Margy began her presentation by noting that there are several categories of gun violence. The most prevalent is suicide. Other categories include interpersonal events, mass killings (four or more deaths), police shootings, and gang violence.
All of these events, she said, have two things in common: Access to a gun and a person not using the weapon responsibly. The centerpiece of the efforts of the Grandmothers Against Gun Violence is, she said, keeping guns out of the hands of people that shouldn’t have them and correct storage. They are not opponents of the Second Amendment.
Margy noted that, in the wake of the attempted assassination of President Reagan, Congress had passed an assault rifle ban that sunset in 2004. There is no similar law in Washington.
Margy believes that a consensus is developing in Washington to pass legislation. She noted that there had been three gun initiatives in recent years. One requires background checks on gun purchases. Another raised the age for which assault rifles can be purchased from eighteen to twenty-one. A third implemented ERPO (Extreme Risk Protection Orders). She is hopeful that the 2021 legislature might pass bi-partisan law dealing with suicide prevention. There will likely be an effort to ban assault rifles, as well.
Research on gun violence as a public health issue has not been well funded, she said. Grandmothers Against Gun Violence has made funded one study that found that one-third of Washington households have guns. Two-thirds of the households with guns also indicated that the guns were not safely stored.
Margy generously answered a number of questions.