Photo: Gregg Hymowitz
Mothers across the countryare making their voices heardafter last month’sUvalde school shooting.
Marcella Guarino Hymowitz, a former captain of the Knicks City Dancers who currently sits on the boards of several nonprofits, was one such mother, organizing a march Friday in New York City forNational Gun Violence Awareness Day.
With help from her friendZara Tisch, Guarino Hymowitz pulled the rally together in about two days, reaching out to their network of friends. “Our message is really that we want this country to unite and meet in the middle,” she tells PEOPLE.
The turnout included around 150 people, one of which was former GovernorAndrew Cuomo, whom she and husband Gregg Hymowitz have long supported.
“He had become a close friend. He said, ‘Hey, I’m here to support, if you want me there or not,'” she recalls. “He, at first, really didn’t want to come because he didn’t want to take away from what we were doing, didn’t make anyone think that he was coming with another agenda.”
Gregg Hymowitz
“I told him just to march alongside us would be amazing support, since he did sign theNew York SAFE Actback in 2013. New York state has ever since had some of the strongest gun laws in the country, and it’s because of him. I actually truly appreciated him coming out to support us,” Guarino Hymowitz continues.
The group marched down 57th Street, pausing for 110 seconds, “which is the average amount of people who die on a daily basis from gun violence.” They chanted “protect our kids, not our guns” and “save our children, not our guns,” stopping in front of Beretta, an Italian firearm manufacturer that has a location on Madison Avenue.
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Guarino Hymowitz is careful to note that their mission is “not about taking people’s second amendment rights away” or taking guns from “law-abiding citizens.”
“It’s about meeting in the middle and finding common ground, common sense laws, that we can all agree on, which is very difficult because it’s a slippery slope,” she says, adding: “That’s why we can’t ever get things done.”
She intends to continue spreading their message and planning more rallies in blue states with Republican lawmakers that could be swayed toward legislating common sense gun reform.
With three children of her own, Guarino Hymowitz says that she’s “been in tears” since first reading about last month’sshooting at Robb Elementary Schoolin Uvalde, Texas, whichclaimed 21 lives— including 19 children and two adults.
PresidentJoe Bidenpreviouslyspoke out about the attackat Robb Elementary, expressing his anger over the country’s ongoing gun violence. The next day, he signed an executive order on policing and public safety andpushed for “common sense gun reforms.”
Robb Elementary School.Brandon Bell/Getty Images
“As a nation, I think we all must be there for them,” Biden, 79, said.“And we must ask: When in God’s name will we do what needs to be done to, if not completely stop, fundamentally change the amount of the carnage that goes on in this country?”
Bidenrenewed his pleathis Thursday in a primetime address to the nation, calling on Congress to reinstate a nationwide assault weapons ban, in addition to other gun reform measures.
source: people.com
