Anita Franklin spent two days in Washington last week. She spent time in Congressional offices talking about gun violence. Franklin is a member of the Lexington chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Her 14-year-old son Antonio was the victim of gun violence as a bystander in 2014.
ranklin says she believes she and other advocates for responsible gun use made headway during their time in D.C. “There was a lot of honesty at the table. Most of the people that were at the table were faith-based groups. My colleagues were from the faith based, so it was just a whole different perspective.”
Franklin and others who were hosted by the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute talked about universal background checks and the red flag law. That’s when police or a family member can petition a court to temporarily remove firearms from persons deemed a present danger to others or themselves. Franklin says she met Heidi Cortez there, a survivor of the Columbine school shooting 20 years ago.? Cortez was also advocating for responsible gun ownership.
