This is not an endorsement.

For transparency, I am providing my answers from my application to Moms Demand Action 2024 Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate questionnaire so that my positions on these questions can be shared with constituents.

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Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action are committed to creating a movement and culture that is diverse, inclusive, and equitable, and being intentional about the intersectional nature of our work. To that end, candidates who apply for the Gun Sense Candidate distinction should not only be ready to commit to governing with gun safety in mind, but must also commit to ensuring that their words and actions promote equity across all communities.

x I commit to governing with gun safety in mind and promoting equity across all communities.

Addressing Gun Violence in America

1. Every day, 120 people in the United States are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and wounded. The gun homicide rate in the U.S. is 26 times higher than that of other high-income countries. Data and research shows that common-sense public safety measures can reduce gun violence and save lives.

Do you believe that state elected officials have a role to play in addressing gun violence in the United States?
x Yes

Background Checks

2. Federal law requires that a person pass a background check before buying a gun from a licensed firearm dealer. Since 1994, more than 4 million illegal gun sales have been blocked, including to people convicted of a felony, domestic abusers, and people barred due to mental illness. But the federal law does not apply if a person buys a gun from an unlicensed seller. This means that criminals can easily buy guns from strangers they meet online or at gun shows, with no questions asked. States can close this loophole by passing a law extending background checks to unlicensed sellers.

Do you support expanding the background checks requirement, to prevent prohibited people from buying guns with no questions asked?
x Yes

Extreme Risk Protection Order

3. When a person is in crisis, loved ones and law enforcement are often the first to see warning signs. Extreme Risk laws, often called Red Flag laws, allow them to ask a judge to temporarily remove guns when a person poses a danger to themselves or others. If a court finds that a person poses a significant threat, that person is temporarily barred from purchasing and possessing guns. Twenty-one states and DC have passed these laws, including sixteen since 2018.

Do you support Extreme Risk Protection Orders (a.ka. Red Flag laws), which can help prevent firearm suicide and mass shootings?
x Yes

Secure Storage

4. Secure firearm storage can reduce the risks of suicide, unintentional shootings, and school shootings. An estimated 4.6 million American children live in households with at least one firearm that is loaded and unsecured. Three-quarters of school shooters got their firearm from the home of a parent or close relative. One study found that households that locked both firearms and ammunition were associated with a 78 percent lower risk of self-inflicted firearm injuries and an 85 percent lower risk of unintentional injuries among children and teens.

Do you support policies requiring gun owners to store their firearms securely — locked and inaccessible to unauthorized users, including children and prohibited people?
x Yes

Suicide by Gun

5. Nearly six out of ten of all gun deaths in the U.S. are suicides. Gun suicides claim the lives of nearly 25,000 people in America every year–that’s an average of 68 deaths a day. But many of these deaths could be prevented if guns were taken out of the equation: access to a gun triples the risk of death by suicide. In addition to legislative solutions like the Extreme Risk Protection Order and secure firearm storage requirements, building public awareness about the suicide risks posed by firearm access is crucial to saving lives.

Do you support educating the public about the unique role firearms play in America’s suicide epidemic?
x Yes

Ghost Guns

6. New products designed to evade gun laws–including widely available kits that convert unfinished parts into fully functional firearms and new capability in 3D printing technology–make it easy for prohibited people to make their own guns at home. These untraceable “ghost guns” can be assembled in less than an hour and let criminals skip the background check system. Ghost gun recoveries across the U.S. are on the rise, and have been connected with criminal enterprises, gun trafficking rings, and far-right extremists.

Do you support prohibitions on building “ghost guns” at home outside of the background check system?
x. No (see comment below)

Protecting Victims of Domestic Abuse

7. Women in the U.S. are 28 times more likely to be killed by gun homicide than women in other high-income countries. And when a gun is present in a domestic violence situation, the woman is five times more likely to be killed. Federal law prohibits many domestic abusers from possessing firearms, but states play a primary role in enforcement — and can pass their own domestic violence laws. Evidence shows these state laws are especially effective at preventing gun violence if they require abusers to turn in their guns once they become prohibited.

Do you support state legislation that prohibits gun possession by abusers convicted of domestic violence or under final restraining orders, and ensures abusers turn in their guns promptly after becoming prohibited?
x Yes

Funding Community Violence Intervention

8. Community-based violence intervention programs apply a localized approach to address gun violence in neighborhoods with particularly high rates of gun violence. Numerous studies demonstrate that evidence-based intervention and prevention — for example, through street- or hospital-based outreach — can reduce gunshot woundings and deaths in the communities most impacted by gun violence.

Do you support robust public funding in your state for localized violence intervention programs that support people at the highest risk of being shot and killed?
x Yes

Public Carry of Firearms

9. Over the last several years, the gun lobby has gone from statehouse to statehouse seeking to enact “permitless carry,” which would pose a public safety risk by removing the requirement that a person get a permit before carrying a hidden, loaded handgun in public. These laws often remove important safety standards, such as denials for people who pose a danger and requirements for safety training and no recent violent acts. Strong permit laws are critically important after the Supreme Court decision in Bruen struck down gold-standard provisions in some states.

Do you support state permitting requirements, including firearm safety training, in order to carry concealed handguns in public?
x Yes

10. Increasingly in recent years, political extremists have taken advantage of gaps in state law to carry guns openly in public as a means of intimidation. In 2020, anti-government extremists, including the ascendant boogaloo movement and white supremacists, used guns, in particular assault weapons, as tools of intimidation and violence in increasingly open ways. Taking advantage of weak state gun laws, they have brandished weapons at anti-government protests, intimidated peaceful protests for racial justice, and even killed people.

Do you support a law prohibiting the open carry of firearms in public?
x. Yes

Police Use of Force and Accountability

11. Police violence is gun violence – 95 percent of civilian deaths caused by police are with a firearm, and Black people are victims at a disproportionate rate. Police shootings have a corrosive impact on our communities as they foster distrust which makes it harder for law enforcement to keep communities safe. Local leaders must commit to supporting targeted reforms that will help prevent shootings and build trust. These reforms should include: a strong legal standard barring the unnecessary use of force and a standard requiring officers to intervene to stop abuse, a commitment to de-escalation, deploying formal tools to identify misconduct, a thorough and independent review system for use of force incidents, and transparency about use of force and other policies and procedures.

Do you support police accountability measures that promote deescalation, promote transparency, and that aim to eliminate unnecessary use of force?
x Yes

Shoot First Laws

12. Shoot First laws, called “Stand Your Ground” by the gun lobby, allow people when outside of their home to shoot and kill others even if they could safely and easily avoid using deadly force. These laws go well beyond traditional self-defense principles – emboldening vigilante violence and encouraging people to seek out confrontation. They are also associated with increases in firearm homicides.

Do you oppose Shoot First laws?
x Yes (see comment below)

Guns in Schools and Colleges

13. The gun lobby has campaigned in statehouses to allow guns in K-12 schools, to arm teachers, and even to force colleges and universities to allow guns onto their campuses. There is no evidence that arming teachers can help stop school shootings—and on the contrary, armed civilians are more likely to cause confusion when law enforcement respond to a shooting, and guns in schools may be accessed by children when not under the teacher’s control. College life is also full of risk factors that make the presence of guns dangerous, with research showing that college students face significant mental health challenges. Arming teachers and forcing guns onto college campuses is broadly opposed by law enforcement, students, and educators.

Do you oppose allowing guns in K-12 schools and colleges, outside of law enforcement and security staff?
x Yes

Preemption of Local Gun Safety Laws

14. After a decades-long effort by the gun lobby, most states now have some form of firearms preemption law, blocking towns and cities from adopting their own gun laws suited to local needs. These preemption laws often bar mayors and police chiefs from taking steps to address gun violence, and in some cases even have punitive provisions that leave taxpayers on the hook for court costs and fees.

Do you oppose broad firearms preemption laws, which block local officials from passing and enforcing laws that keep communities safe from gun violence?
x Yes

Holding the Gun Industry Accountable

15. In 2005, at the strong urging of the gun lobby, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, one of the biggest giveaways to private industry in American history, giving the gun industry more protection from litigation than makers and sellers of cars or tobacco products. In recent years, several states have fought back against this unique type of immunity, passing laws that push back on industry by empowering gun violence survivors (and/or state authorities) to file suit against gunmakers and dealers whose bad conduct results in harm.

Do you support giving gun violence survivors access to justice by allowing them to take bad industry actors to court?
x Yes

Assault Weapons

16. Assault weapons have been shown to increase the number of people killed and wounded in mass shootings—as they enable shooters to fire more quickly and with more destructive force. Researchers have found that the federal prohibition on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines was associated with a significant decrease in public mass shootings and related casualties.

Do you support an assault weapons ban that would bar new civilian purchases of these weapons of war?
x Yes (see comment below)

ABOUT

Moms Demand Action
Moms Demand Action is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization with nearly ten million supporters. Moms Demand Action is the nation’s largest grassroots volunteer network working to end gun violence and campaigns for new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that jeopardize the safety of our families, educates policymakers and parents about the importance of secure firearm storage and works to create a culture of gun safety through partnerships with businesses, community organizations and influencers. There is a Moms Demand Action chapter in every state of the country and more than 700 local groups across the country.

Students Demand Action
Students Demand Action is the largest grassroots, youth-led gun violence prevention group in the country with more than 550 groups and active volunteers in every state and the District of Columbia. The movement, created by and for teens and young adults, aims to channel the energy and passion of high school and college-aged students into the fight against gun violence. Students Demand Action volunteers organize within their schools and communities to educate their peers, register voters, and demand common-sense solutions to this national public health crisis at the local, state, and federal level. Students Demand Action is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with nearly ten million supporters and more than 700,000 donors. For more information or to get involved visit www.studentsdemandaction.org.
Have you been an active participant with a Moms Demand Action Chapter, Students Demand Action Group, or the Everytown Survivor Network?

x No

Survivors of Gun Violence
The Everytown Survivor Network is inclusive of anyone who has personally experienced gun violence—whether you have witnessed an act of gun violence, been threatened or wounded with a gun, or had someone you know wounded or killed with a gun. This includes but is not limited to gun suicides, domestic violence involving a gun, and unintentional shootings. Have you or a loved one experienced gun violence – such as homicide, suicide, wounding, witnessing gun violence?

x Yes

COMMENTS

Would you like to provide any background?
I grew up in rural Alaska in a hunting and trapping family; lived in the East Bay, California for 10 years, and have spent the last 24 years here in Utah. I had a childhood friend killed by his brother because they were playing with unlocked guns in their house. At my first job I was one of two assault victims where a person used a gun. I have extended family who have been stalked, attacked and shot, or killed. In the East Bay I had co-workers who were killed, or seriously disabled in drive-by shootings. I had a much-revered teacher who committed suicide with a gun. Since living here in Utah I have had a co-worker who committed suicide with a gun, and there have been multiple child fatalities in my own neighborhood from access to unlocked guns. I haven’t even mentioned school shootings, mass shootings, road rage incidents, or brandishing.

Would you like to provide any additional background for any of your responses to this questionnaire?

Thank you for this questionnaire.

Beside working on common sense gun control measures, I want to start building a coalition of voices for 2a regulation that can advocate at the state level. I really would be interested in strategies for engagement, and making conversations that build trust and respect.

My commitment in the campaign (Utah House District 44) is that I will listen to constituents, and I will represent local issues for Utahns. Gun control here is hotly contested, even when most agree that sensible measures need to be put in place to improve safety and reduce harm. There is a lot of the mentality of “a good guy with a gun” that results in bills being passed for non-permitted concealed carry, to arm teachers, and to place lockboxes in classrooms for their guns. We were the first state to declare an official state firearm (the Browning 1911). Along with Browning there are a large number of gun and ammunition manufacturers in the state. Much of rural Utah sees the gun control issue as an urban problem that doesn’t understand or appreciate their lifestyle. There are additional issues for us with militias and white nationalist movements.

Re: Ghost Guns
There is no system in place for comprehensive firearm registration, and there are no laws in place to track changes of ownership past the initial purchase. Private gun sales and the proliferation of gun shows in the Midwest are the likely sources of private sales of firearms. Cost and accessibility lean towards private sales. Ghost guns and kits are geared more towards firearm enthusiasts than criminals seeking to manufacture and distribute weapons. Weapons used in crimes are still traceable based on the ammunition type, bullets used, rifling of expended bullets, etc. If legislation were proposed for private gun manufacture, it would have to be comprehensive and/or pragmatic, i.e. focused on holding component manufacturers, distributors, assemblers accountable for firearms used in a crime, or in the case of organized crime, that the component manufacture was part of an organized crime operation. There are other issues apparent for this topic; I believe that our priorities lie elsewhere.

Re: Shoot First Laws
I agree, but need to comment here. The best defenses in order of priority is de-escalation, running away, getting help, non-lethal defense, then lethal defense. Acts of provocation (following a person, confronting a person, brandishing) should exempt anyone from claiming self-defense. Bottom line here is that a gun owner MUST be responsible and held accountable for actions.

Re: Assault Weapons
I agree, but we need to update definitions on what an assault weapon is. Example: Bump stocks turn a gun into a machine gun, but aren’t legally defined as such based on recent supreme court ruling (Garland v. Cargill). Regardless of the actuator, any firearm that produces a rate of fire above XX threshold should be defined as a machine gun, and parts used to convert a firearm into a weapon like this should also be illegal. I would like to see clear definitions of firearm types to distinguish differences between hunting, competition, self defense, security/police, and military grade weapons.

I appreciate these questions, and encourage that we continue conversation.