Shannon Watts

“I started this page because, as a mom, I can no longer sit on the sidelines.” Shannon Watts posted these words on Facebook the day after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, as she started the group that would become Moms Demand Action. As Watts would later recall in her book, Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World, she didn’t envision a future for herself as an activist at the time. “I was a former public relations executive and a mom who had never signed a petition or been to a single rally.”

Her Facebook page quickly grew into a nationwide movement of mothers and others united against the gun lobby in the United States. Today — with its partners, Everytown for Gun Safety and Students Demand Action — Moms Demand Action has more than 6 million supporters, surpassing the membership of the National Rifle Association.

In addition to her work with Moms Demand Action, Watts also serves on the boards of Emerge America, a group that recruits and trains women to run for office, and Advance Peace, an organization working to end gun violence in America’s urban communities.

About Moms Demand Action
Moms Demand Action is a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures to protect people from gun violence. With established chapters in every state, the organization has passed hundreds of gun-safety laws across the country, changed corporate policies and educated Americans about secure gun storage. Moms Demand Action is working nationwide to strengthen background checks, invest in community-based, violence-intervention programs, and pass more “Red Flag” laws — which provide a way for family members and law enforcement to intervene when they’re concerned about an individual's gun access. In the 17 states that have already passed Red Flag laws, they are working to educate the public about how to use the laws to keep loved ones safe.

Learn more about Moms Demand Action here.