“We’ve seen 18 mass shootings in the last 16 days, putting us through every stage of grief from anger to depression and back again. How are we supposed to continue going about our day-to-day lives knowing that we aren’t safe at the grocery store, at our places of worship, on the street, or in an elementary school of all places? How can we have any faith that this time will be any different when our elected leaders have consistently chosen to stand idly by?

And yet, it isn’t hopeless. Over the last half decade in Washington State, a citizens’ movement to create safer communities has used a simple phrase: gun violence is preventable. Not only do we know policy solutions that will save lives; we know the kind of organized mass movement that it takes to win, and we’ve got the playbook.”

Read the full piece from Stephen Paolini in Post Alley.