Lock Arms for Life Blog
Gun safety is public service, too
I had a revelation today after reading a story about a child who drowned. I already know how much courage it takes to talk about tragic events. It's always encouraging to see people who are willing to share theirs. I read a friend’s Facebook post where there was a...
The best answer on Trauma Day
She was a sophomore at Westlake High and had a question for me. "So, I have a relative who owns a gun, and I know they don't keep it secured. Can you give me any suggestions on how I talk to them or what I can say?" It was an important question that I get quite often....
Using the fast line for Advocacy Day
Gun safety is looking like a top priority at this year's Texas legislative session. That’s what the representative who I talked with said yesterday. A Texas law against negligence is a step forward that North Carolina could then follow. I wish that state had that law...
Going on camera for gun safety
It was thrilling but frightening to think I was going to be interviewed for a documentary. I've never done anything like that, and to be honest I'm camera shy. Years ago, my husband Randy was doing TV spots for the Nissan dealership where he was GM, including a...
Citizen Police Academy
Does gun safety advocacy come with perks? Well, I don't get heath insurance coverage, gym memberships or even a paycheck, but I do work with some of Austin's finest police officers—an Assistant Police Chief who's attended every gun safety event I've ever participated...
A Hearing for All: Safe Storage
It was a day I will never forget. I've had days like that before. I was nervous, but that was nothing new. I used to play tennis and captained a team, before gun safety consumed my life. I knew that tennis and nerves go hand-in-hand. It didn't matter how many lessons...
A club with no more members
Like lots of women, I love Nancy Drew's stories. She's an investigator, something I admire. I like Diane Sawyer too, and solving mysteries. How the NRA might be of any help to safer gun ownership may seem like an unsolvable mystery—but Nancy didn't give up. Think of...
Why can't I be member of NRA and Mom's Demand Action?
Do you remember the peacock story from my last blog? Did you know that only males are actually peacocks? They're not born with fancy feathers, they grow them as they get older. They can fly. I knew the last one because I've seen that peacock on the rooftop of a...
A peacock, safety, and the NRA
With the news of another school shooting, my heart is heavy again. It is horrific that these acts of violence continue to plague our children. I know for me I will take better aim on my gun safety advocacy. I'm doing what I can for another group of victims, the ones...
My first Official Sweepstakes Entry from the NRA
The NRA wants to give me guns as sweepstakes prize. They do have a prize in the sweepstakes I would like to have, but it's probably not for the reasons they think. Last week in my mail was a sweepstakes envelope from the NRA. I stared at the glossy emblazoned mailer...
Public Speaking 101: a lesson about saving lives
I knew at some point along my journey of gun safety that I'd be speaking publicly. That petrified me, even though I recently took a workshop to prepare for speaking. The class was giving me platform-building tools, something writers need. Oh, did I mention that I...
Taking aim at a gun-friendly world
Clamp on your holsters, people. This is my new gun safety rant. It's gonna be a little like target practice. My hairstylist has a daughter who's a high school senior, and like many parents of graduating students, they're starting to visit college campuses. I...
Safety demands more action from this mom
The bullet landed in a bed frame in the college dorm. I heard about that shot at close range during my first meeting with Moms Demand Action, another one of the ways I'm stretching myself to tell my story. Like the woman telling about the dorm accident, it was my...
Paying My Price of Discomfort
Have you ever signed up to learn something—and a day before you're about to start the class you realize what a totally insane idea it was? Yeah? My stroke of genius was the day I signed up for the public speaking workshop. I am super awkward on stage, in front of a...
Empty Nester?
I did it! I finally completed my memoir, At Close Range. Days later I was in South Padre, visiting friends. The first day we all went down to the beach to catch some rays. As we walked toward the shoreline we noticed black tar in the sand. I could see it floating in...
A Forgiving Message from the scene of the Crime
Do you ever wonder if the universe is sending you a message? That’s how I felt returning to the scene of the crime. I was at ease, for once, the first time I felt that way in North Carolina since Jon died. Boone was no longer a place like Death Valley. Keeping my...
Wish me luck, Southern-style
So next weekend is the Writers' League of Texas Agents and Editors conference at the Hyatt Regency. I’ve spent the last three weeks adding new stories to my blog, like this one. Yesterday I sat at my desk and made a list of the panels and speakers I wanted to hear....
Rally: part 2
At the #wearorange rally we’re laughing at the silly orange costume pieces. Susan replaces the orange tutu and funny little party hat on the table next to the band of orange hair that I was wearing. We walk away talking. Susan’s going to post a picture of us wearing...
Could my family rally to take aim at #Everytown?
Missing the rally would’ve been okay, really. I woke on Saturday with doubts about whether I should go. What kind of people will be there? Extremist, anti-gun supporters? I didn’t sign up to spend my Saturday with kooks. I wanted to go with family, even though they...
#WearOrange
#WearOrange: June 2nd and 3rd. I’ve never gone to a rally of any kind in my life, nor do I consider myself an activist. Then I received a text from Everytown for Gun Safety. I felt compelled to act. I clicked on the #WearOrange link and found that there was an...
Mother's Day
An excerpt from my memoir At Close Range, the story of my journey to a reckoning over the accidental shooting death of my oldest son Jon Like all of those other holidays since Jon's accidental death, I feel a shortness of breath and sweaty palms long before the...
The First Christmas Is Hardest
Seven years have passed, and today like other cold December days I feel I am in A Charlie Brown Christmas. My soft sigh of “Ugh” goes unnoticed. Nobody lets you hate Christmas. Nobody wants to hate it, either. Not me, a mom who made Christmas a big “Love You” to her...
The New Talk
The gun was there because it was a room with young adults, after an evening of drinking, and they did not bring enough education and training before that deadly moment—the one when an accident ended Jon’s life and turned mine into years of recovery from grief and...