Would you joke about murdering a mother? In front of a victim of gun violence?

In 2006, I was shot in the abdomen in my workplace — the Jewish Federation of Seattle — by a deeply troubled young man.

And I was lucky to have survived — one of my coworkers did not. Since that fateful day, I have fought through twenty surgeries, a coma, and months and months of PTSD therapy. But I will never be the same.

I don’t know if you had the chance to follow the hearing about gun safety in Olympia last Wedn‌esday — but I went to testify in favor of I-594. The hate and rancor directed towards me and other victims of gun violence by the gun lobby — not to mention by a few of our state senators — was deeply hurtful and appalling.

Brian Judy, a gun lobbyist, noted that I-594 wouldn’t have stopped Newtown’s Adam Lanza from taking his mother’s gun and then turning it on her. He even joked, “I think that [one] was the ‘murder your mom’ loophole.”

In their mocking, both he and state Senator Steve O’Ban chuckled.

Would you joke about someone murdering their mother and then killing twenty children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary?

Well, I wouldn’t. If you wouldn’t either, add your name to my petition demanding an explanation for their outrageous behavior from state Senate leadership.

Then there was Senator Roach, who has been told to seek counseling for threatening her employees and even brandishing a handgun at one. She did everything possible to degrade the testimony of myself and other survivors, and to question our motives. Why shouldn’t I want legislation that would prevent the kind of everyday gun violence that threatens our communities, even if I-594 would not have stopped the gunman who shot me?

I know at a personal and profound level the damage that gun violence does — and Republicans in the state Senate, as well as lobbyist Brian Judy, would prefer I stay silent.

Senator Roach went on, “it’s nice to have women testify, but I don’t give much to gender on these kinds of things and it’s easy to push forward the women, and the helpless, and victims, and this is how I feel … but I don’t agree with what is going on here.”

She did not like being face-to-face with the results of the irresponsible gun policies she fights so hard to uphold.

If you’re fed up with this kind of callous disregard towards victims of gun violence, add your name to my petition demanding an explanation from Senate leadership.

I’ll be delivering the signatures in person to the state Senate on Fr‌iday. Help me show them that they cannot get away with such offensive behavior.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Stumbo
Sponsor of I-594
Jewish Federation Survivor