Dear Mr. Loper,

I recently found out about your webpage. Have you included anything about the Million Mom March on Mother's Day, May 14th?

It is in support of handgun control. The website with information about it is www.milliommommarch.com. I have been trying to find out if there is any organization of a bus from this area but it seems not many people know about it. Would you be willing to add it to your home page?

I am sending you a copy of a letter I am e-mailing to our various
representatives. I got their e-mail addresses from you. Many thanks.

Betsy Brickhouse (electronic mail, April 17, 2000).

* * * * * * *

Dear ________,

I would like you to know that I will be attending the Million Mom March on May 14th. I am horrified by the gun violence that affects all of us in this country. The potential for rage, the readiness to act on impulse, the desire to strike out against another, the seeing in another human not a fellow being but an object of one's hate or anger or fear is something that is within all of us, most especially young men, to some degree at moments in our lives. We do not want ready access to a handgun at such moments. We do not want an armed society. We do not want to know that the despondent office worker, the enraged driver, the disaffected teen, or the six-year-old who gets mad at a classmate all have access to guns. We NEED handgun control.

My husband and I received a call in the middle of the night from a coroner informing us our son was dead of a gunshot wound. My son's friend, who was wounded but survived, reported two "kids" on the street with handguns who got mad when they weren't given any money. The guns were pulled out of their pockets as an afterthought. My son and his friend didn't even know they were armed. I would not wish this numbing loss on any other father, mother, sister or brother. But I sincerely wonder if those who are supporters of the NRA were to receive such a call in the night would they then, at least, question the "rightness" of their stand.

The gun violence in this country is a national shame.

Sincerely yours,
Betsy Brickhouse
Charlottesville, Virginia

For my own part, I believe Elizabeth's letter should touch every parent who has a child and I hope that whether you have a child or not you will make every effort to attend the march in Washington, D.C. on May 14th.

In case you would like to get in touch with Betsy directly, she can be reached at ebrickhouse@hotmail.com.

The Charlottesville coordinator of the Million Mom March is Mary Jane Gore: mjgore@aol.com (Konrad Mueller, electronic mail, April 18, 2000).