A Letter to My Senator, Mitch McConnell

Hi, friends.

Enough is enough. Gun violence is preventable. I'm writing to my Senator, who happens to be the U.S. Senate majority leader. Please copy and use as your own to write to your senator, too.

And, while you're at it, feel free to donate to Moms Demand Action. I set up a small, monthly donation last year. From what I've seen this group do, it's been money well-spent. Together, we will end gun violence. 
https://momsdemandaction.org/

Dear Senator McConnell:

My name is Amy Danzo and I reside in Kentucky. I haven’t always lived here. In fact, in my 37 years of life, I’ve called Ohio my home the majority of it. A big part of our family still lives in Dayton, Ohio, and we visit several times a month.  

However, Kentucky is where I moved when I graduated from college. Kentucky is where my husband proposed to me on one knee, with candles glowing in the background. Kentucky is where I found my career - not just my job - in higher education. It’s a career that has been able to pull out all my strengths and passions and enable me to use them to work with countless others to better the lives of thousands. Kentucky is where I became invested in my religion and spiritual life. I adore my religion, but use logic when it comes to equating what happened 2,000 years ago to present-day life. Kentucky is where my husband and I built our first house. From plotting to planning and saving money, we have put our mark on every square-inch of this house. And, best of all, Kentucky has been where I’ve had the absolute pleasure and blessing of bringing three beautiful, soft, cooing babies home. These babies, who have grown up to be a pre-teen, a school-ager, and a pre-schooler, are amazingly smart, spiritual, hopeful, hard-working and positive living, breathing, human beings in this society. And they are what brings me here today, at 10:40 a.m. on a Sunday morning, typing you - my Senator - a letter. Again. 

So, while Kentucky may not be the state in which I grew up, it is now my home. There is a universal understanding of what “home” is. Home is where we feel comfortable and where we feel free. We feel safe at home and we thrive at home. Home is a place we protect - both emotionally and physically. When there is something or someone threatening our home, our natural instincts pop into action. Neurotransmitters flow through our body and we either take flight - or we fight. When you read and study Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you understand that you cannot accomplish much in life without feeling safe. You cannot be a productive member of society if you feel that your safety is in jeopardy. When you logically conclude that your home is no longer safe, you are constantly trying to identify threats. This is your home: your house, your neighborhood, your city, your community, your state, your country. Senator McConnell, our home is no longer safe. We no longer feel free. We are under constant attack from unstable US citizens who have easy access to military-style guns and as much ammunition as their hearts desire. Many feel that they have no control - that as citizens, they feel stuck. How did we get to the point where we, as citizens of this great nation, no longer feel like we can have an impact with how safe we feel in our own home? We need change, and we need change fast. That’s where I hope you come into the picture, Senator McConnell. 

Senator McConnell, you’ve made a career out of being a U.S. Senator. I assume it is no longer a job for you. Like me, I assume that you take great responsibility in seeing that your strengths and passions in your career enable you to enrich and positively change the lives of millions of people. You see a broken system, and you harness the power that you have to work with others to fix it. Because you know that when the safety of a home is ensured, that your people will feel more free. Free to love, free to learn, free to work, free to bring beautiful babies into this world. Free to use their passions and strengths to make their home a better place for all. 

There are two gun reform pieces of legislation sitting on your desk right now. They have both been vetted and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. These two gun reform pieces of legislation have the capability of saving thousands of lives a year. You have the power to make these bills laws, Senator McConnell. The majority of Americans are rooting for you to do the right thing. We’re praying that you can make us feel safe again. We’re patiently hanging out on the second ledge of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: waiting for the day where we can finally work towards self-actualization because the threat to our home is diminished.

You can do this. You can save us. It took Beyonce eight months to prepare for a two hour performance. It’s been almost six months since these bills have been on your desk. I think there’s been more than enough time to prepare for these to become law. 

Be like Beyonce. Put the work in, fight, and diminish the threat our home. 

With Sincere Regard,

Amy Danzo

A Concerned Constituent 

CC:

Rand Paul

Thomas Massie

Wil Schroder

Joseph Fischer