Tired of gun violence in America, a San Francisco Bay Area photographer and mother has put together an anti-gun PSA entitled “Dear Mom and Dad- get to work saving my life!”
Dana Spaeth-Williams funded the film using GoFundMe, writing the following:
My name is Dana Spaeth-Williams. I am an artist/photographer and a mother of three. On the heels of and inspired by Richard Martinez’s wonderful activism [1] toward more safe and sane gun laws, I have created an impactful video simply titled: “Dear Mom and Dad”. It features the faces of 78 young people, each holding cards unfolding a powerful message, and inciting parents to take action! My hope is that the video will go viral on social media create a kernel of change!
The series of flashcards begins with
Dear Mom and Dad, you slather me with sunscreen, buckle my seatbelt and enforce my curfew. You protect me from pesticides, second-hand smoke and germs. You tell me to look both ways, wear my helmet and eat my vegetables. Yet every day you leave me in danger that no other developed nation would tolerate.
My country is turning a blind eye on my right to live and it’s time to do something about it.
The video goes on to explain that children in the United States are 17 times more likely to be killed by a gun than children in the next 25 developed countries combined.
“Guns kill more children under 5 than law officers in the line of duty. A gun at home does not protect me. A gun at home makes me 3 times as likely to be murdered, 3-5 times as likely to commit suicide and 4 times as likely to cause my own accidental death. How many statistics do you need?”
The video calls on parents to use their voice, vote and “buying power” to support “businesses with gun sense.”
As one might expect, the Tea Party and other conservative and gun-rights groups are not very happy with Spaeth-Williams or her anti-gun PSA.
The Tea Party News Network (TPNN) refers to Spaeth-Williams as an “Apparent Propagandist” in an article entitled:
Anti-Second Amendment Crowd Uses Children as Props in DISGUSTING New Anti-Gun PSA
The go on to launch an attack on liberals in general, writing:
The left is incredibly fond of using children as props when trying to combat our Second Amendment rights. They frame the discussion as a need to acquiesce to the left’s definition of “common sense” gun control and they are, more and more, willing to use children as the vehicle for that message.
They parade children as young as 5 in front of cameras and emotionally manipulate parents with sappy PSAs and soundbites, but conspicuously dodge honest and substantive discussions about gun control and its efficacy.
ConservativeHQ, which describes itself as “The online news source for conservatives and Tea Partiers committed to bringing limited-government constitutional conservatives to power,” posted an excerpt from the TPNN article using the title:
Disgusting Anti-2nd Amend. PSA Exploits Children
Ingo Gun Owners forum has an entertaining discussion consisting mainly of gun-owners attacking Spaeth-Williams for “exploiting children,” disputing her statistics, and noting that
It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
You can watch the video, below:
FOOTNOTE:
1. As TheNeeds reports: “
According to this powerful anti-gun video, the gun debate isn’t complicated. Kids just don’t want to be killed. They want you to do something about gun violence in America.
When his 20-year-old son was killed in the Isla Vista shootings, Richard Martinez began an outspoken gun control crusade. Inspired by Martinez’s activism, mom of three Dana Spaeth-Williams decided to use her camera as a weapon in the debate.
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