Dear Colleagues:
Enough is enough. Firearms have long been used as a tool of power and control to instill fear and inflict abuse. The United States has the most firearms owned by private citizens in the world, and U.S. women are more likely to be homicide victims than women in other high-income countries. So it’s not surprising that we’re mourning again in the U.S. – this time for children, shot and killed by a man who walked in off the street and gunned them down in their classroom.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand, instituted ‘pragmatic’ reforms to get guns off the street after the 2019 Christchurch massacre. In addition to policy change, we must continue to reject narratives of fear, racism, misogyny, and nativism that fuel the culture of violence everywhere.
Thank you for all the work you do in your communities around the globe that brings us together, that helps us grieve, that gives us hope.
In solidarity,
Elizabeth Barajas-Román
Women’s Funding Network
President & CEO