This commentary is by state Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden Southeast District.
On April 13, my husband and I were overjoyed to welcome a baby girl into the world. She is our first child and this is the first time a legislator has been pregnant or given birth during the legislative session in nearly 20 years.
With every piece of legislation I vote on as the session nears adjournment, I am looking at it through a new lens as a new mother.
Perhaps no issue causes me greater concern for the future of our children, and now my child, than that of gun safety. Gun violence has now become the primary killer of children and teens in the U.S., as gun deaths among children have risen 50 percent from 2019 to 2021.
Homicide was the largest single category of gun deaths among children in 2021, accounting for 60 percent of the total, followed by suicide at 32 percent and accidents at 5 percent.
So it was with a deep sense of both gravity and privilege that I cast my vote remotely on H.230, our major gun safety and suicide prevention bill this session, from my daughter’s second pediatrician appointment.
Hanging on the wall in the office as I voted was a Dr. Seuss quote from “Horton Hears a Who”: “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” While it may seem obvious and simple, children — and the parents of young children — are highly underrepresented in the policymaking process, and it’s important we put our children’s personhood and safety at the forefront in this contentious debate.
H.230 includes three common-sense provisions that will reduce gun violence and gun-related suicide if enacted into law: implementation of safe storage liability, enactment of firearm purchase waiting periods, and strengthening extreme risk protection orders.
The one I have heard the most about is safe storage, as people wonder if someone will be inspecting their homes or preemptively enforcing this language. The answer is no; this will create liability if a weapon is negligently or improperly stored and subsequently used in a crime, death, or serious injury.
We are a gun-owning household, as my husband is an avid hunter and firearm enthusiast. His first project to prepare for the birth of our daughter was to move his guns from a key-locked display cabinet to a hidden, heavily protected safe. A majority of responsible gun owners understand the danger of leaving weapons in places that are visible and accessible, especially those who are parents or are likely to have young visitors present in their home.
Though Vermont’s greatest statistical danger is suicide by gun, especially among teens, we are not immune from the gun homicides sweeping the nation. Recent tragedies — from a boy who went to the wrong house to pick up a sibling to a young woman who turned around in the wrong driveway to a family that asked the wrong person to stop shooting guns while their baby was sleeping — weigh heavily on our psyches where the only crime committed by the victims was being in the wrong place at the wrong time in the vicinity of someone with unimpeded access to guns and the belief that they could use them with impunity.
For my newborn child’s safety and for all of our children, let’s build a world where gun violence is a thing of the past.
It may seem too hard or too low of an impact to do this, especially in our small state. But again, I would turn to the wisdom of my pediatrician’s office and the full quote from Dr. Seuss that there is no action or person too small to matter when it comes to saving lives.
Should I put this speck down?
Horton thought with alarm.
If I do, these small persons
may come to great harm.
I can’t put it down.
And I won’t! After all
a person’s a person.
No matter how small.
