06.13.2019 - By KQED
Last year, there were more than 300 mass shootings in the United States, an epidemic of violence that continues unabated. Shannon Watts is the founder of Moms Demand Action, a national organization working to pass stricter gun laws. Watts was spurred to action by the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012, in which 20 children and six adults were killed. Outraged by the violence, Watts started a Facebook group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, where she began connecting other mothers looking to take political action on the issue. Today, the organization has been credited in passing stronger gun control legislation in more than a dozen states.