Protecting Families from Gun Violence: The Overlooked Toll on Children, Teens, and Expectant Mothers

When reports say a child died from a ‘firearm assault,’ it means something horrific — that a child was intentionally shot and killed, most often by a parent or other family member. 68% of children killed by guns are murdered by their parents. That’s what ‘firearm assault’ really means. Domestic violence involving firearms has profound […]
You have a right to say “no” to guns in your home

Homeowners, renters, and people who have control over a private premise (e.g. people who host an event at a rented home such as an AirBnB) have the right to prohibit firearms on the premises. A sign advising people that firearms are prohibited on the premises can be placed on the premise or in an invitation […]
Donna Dees and ‘Five Awake’: Never give up on changing domestic violence, gun laws

The documentary, Five Awake, chronicles the journey of five Louisiana women who sought to change the state for the better by pushing through a historic legislative package to protect the victims of domestic violence and save lives… An article in Shootonline.com sets the stage: “Susan Willis, managing partner of post company Cutting Room Films, assembled […]
Firearms fuel domestic violence-driven killing of women

Firearms are used in more than half of intimate partner homicides and two-thirds of pregnancy-related homicides in the United States. Reducing access to firearms can prevent suffering and deaths of women and children. The United Nations defines femicide as “an intentional killing with a gender-related motivation, [that] may be driven by stereotyped gender roles, discrimination towards women and […]
Harris’s continuing gun conversation helps define and model responsible US gun ownership

by Sandy & Lonnie Phillips As parents of a daughter fatally shot in the 2012 Aurora, CO theater mass shooting, we urge Vice President Harris to continue a frank discussion about gun ownership to help quell the current scourge of US gun violence. Vice President Harris’s conversation about gun ownership, which began during her interview […]
Named one of CNN’s Champions for Change a year ago, Sandy and Lonnie Phillips continue championing change in 2024…and beyond

‘We found our joy again and we want other survivors to find their joy again, too.’ -Sandy Phillips during Anderson Cooper/CNN interview Last September, CNN’s Anderson Cooper profiled his chosen Champion for Change, Sandy and Lonnie Phillips of Survivors Empowered. In the interview, Sandy said that their legacy, in honor of their daughter, Jessi—slain in […]
Gun industry immunity law repeal draws closer with 12 new Congressional HR 4184 cosponsors

Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, Newtown Action Alliance, and Junior Newtown Alliance secure additional support, bringing total to 129 cosponsors Marking 12 years since their daughter’s brutal shooting death along with 11 others in an Aurora, CO theater, Sandy and Lonnie Phillips recently collaborated with Newtown Action Alliance and Junior Newtown Alliance in Washington, DC to […]
3 Supreme Court Elephants trample gun violence prevention

Weighty influence of Roberts, Thomas, Bruen opinions Amid the endless parsing of the US Constitution’s Second Amendment to support gun rights is another famous declaration from the US Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that […]
Meet the new boss; as deadly as the old boss.

The Washington Post recently reported that the United States Supreme Court conservative majority led by Justice Clarence Thomas has given shooters the right to use a device called a bump stock that allows firearms to function as machine guns. In the June 14, 2024 Supreme Court decision in Garland v Cargill, the conservative majority ruled […]
Survivors Of Gun Violence Demand Justice and an End to Firearm Industry Immunity

“The gun industry stole our daughter’s life and the gun industry immunity law bankrupted us. Senator Graham played a massive role in the blood-letting. The killer used an AR-15. He shot our daughter six times. There was not enough of her left to put in a coffin. She was slaughtered along with 11 others in […]