League of Women Voters Firearms Study

Part one of a two part Everyday Nonviolence Series addressing gun violence in Minnesota

Mary Lewis Grow and Martha (Marti) Micks speak with Host Jarren Peterson Dean about their work as co-chairs on Minnesota's League of Women Voters' (LWVMN) recent study on Firearms. In 1990 LWVMN adopted its first position paper on the issue and is now finalizing an updated version. Our guests share LWVMN's analysis of firearms in Minnesota and discuss what can be done at the legislative level to address the gun violence epidemic in our state. 

Listen in to gain a deeper understanding of LWVMN's firearms policy recommendations which include: instituting red flag laws, banning assault weapons, requiring universal background checks, defining ghost guns and 3D printed weapons as firearms, funding community-based gun violence intervention and prevention programs, state licensing of firearm dealers, funding firearms violence research, and opposing stand your ground laws. 

Mary Lewis Grow has been involved in the issue of gun violence for many years including roles as: Founder and National Director of the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence; Board Member Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; Board Member and Co-founder of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota (now Protect Minnesota); and Co-author of MN League of Women Voters publication, Facts and Issues: The Sale, Use, and Possession of Firearms in Minnesota,1990. She taught at Smith College, St. Olaf, and Tufts University and served as Associate Director of the Career Center at Carleton College.

Marti Micks has been a social studies teacher with the Osseo School District and served eight years on the Golden Valley City Council, and the Housing & Redevelopment Authority. She also worked as a civilian management analyst for the U.S. Army in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. A League member since 1976, Micks was president of LWVMN (2018-2019) and is currently president of LWV Golden Valley, Secretary of the Council of Metropolitan Area Leagues. 

Additional information on LWVMN is available at lwvmn.org

This episode was hosted by Jarren Peterson Dean and produced by Charlotte Sebastian, with audio engineering by Hugo Rejas.   Music generously donated by Bensound.com.