» Help Save Lives: Click here

Mindy Finkelstein was in the right place at the right time – playing capture the flag on a sunny morning with five and six year old campers at the North Valley Jewish Community Center’s summer camp.  On their way to the arts and crafts, though, it all went wrong.

That’s when Mindy was shot … along with three campers … by a self-proclaimed new-Nazi, out on parole and clinically insane.  He got his weapon, a semi-automatic weapon, at a gun show.

“In an instant my campers went from running across the back grassy field to asking me if I had paint all over me.  It was blood,” Mindy remembers.  “It has been ten years and I can still remember every detail of that day and the feelings I had as a result.”

Mindy’s shooter was out on parole from the state of Washington.  He crossed the state line into California, and he was criminally insane. He even tried to lock himself in a mental hospital and was denied entrance.  He was so ill that, from what Mindy was told, the Aryan Nation kicked him out for being “a threat to their cause.”  Yet, he was able to walk into a gun show and legally purchase his murder weapon.

“My opinion on gun legislation is simple,” Mindy explains. “It’s narrowed down to common sense and personal safety. 

“Everyone makes the comparison that you have to have a license to drive a car but not to own a gun. For me it’s even less complicated than that. A car’s sole intent is to help get people from place to place.  A sole purpose of a gun is to kill. So, making it harder to get a gun should be obvious.”  Her shooter took advantage of the loophole in the sale of guns at gun shows.  Private sellers at gun shows are not required to conduct Brady background checks on purchasers.  “Bufford Furrow bought the gun he used against me without a background check or waiting period.”

Mindy became involved with the Brady Campaign after she spoke to nearly a million people at the Million Mom March in 2000.  The tenth anniversary of the March is next year.  Mindy works with the San Fernando Chapter of the Brady Campaign, and recently organized the Victory over Violence 5K and 10K walk-a-thons to benefit the local Women against Gun Violence group.  And she is a frequent speaker for schools, churches and congregrations, and civic groups, speaking out about gun violence and for common sense gun laws.

“At a recent Brady event, I met the father of one of the Virginia Tech victims who told me that I have a responsibility to speak for his daughter so that she could also lend her silenced voice to the cause. This is a responsibility that I don’t take lightly… and never will.  I can’t bring back or replace the victims of gun violence in any way but what I can do is use my face and voice to show the truth behind gun violence. That’s why I continue to work with Brady to strengthen our country’s gun laws – especially to close the gun show loophole that threatened the life of me and my campers’ – and today still puts our communities at risk.”

» Click here to email your U.S. Representative to close the gun show loophole

» Help Save Lives: Click here

Ten years ago, Heidi Yewman sat at Dave Sanders’ funeral and vowed to help reduce gun violence.  Dave was the faculty member killed at the mass shooting at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.  Dave was also Heidi’s basketball coach when she attended Columbine.  Her vow turned into action when she led a contingent from Oregon to the 2000 Million Mom March in Washington, D.C., and then, returned home to become President of the Vancouver, Washington Million Mom March Chapter, which she has led ever since.

Heidi is also regional coordinator and spokesperson for The Asking Saves Kids Campaign, which encourages parents to ask if guns are safely stored at places where their children play or visit.  Heidi’s involvement with the ASK Campaign started when she discovered her two small children playing in a room at a friend’s house where two loaded handguns were stored in the night stand.
As one of the region’s most outspoken and visible advocates for gun violence prevention, Heidi has delivered more than 50 presentations on the impact of gun violence to more than 1,000 parents, teachers, and healthcare providers.  Heidi has also held numerous press conferences, vigils, and media events; participated in safety fairs and conferences; placed more than 20 news articles and six opinion articles in The Oregonian, The Columbian, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and in Portland Parents Magazine; was featured in ten broadcast news stories about various gun issues.

Heidi’s recently published book, Beyond the Bullet, is a series of interviews with individuals whose lives were “blown apart by the pull of a trigger,” including two teachers and one parent from Columbine. They discuss the anguish, fear, confusion, and grief caused by suicide, homicide, and unintentional shootings. Heidi found that although the individual circumstances are different, the stories reveal what the survivors hold in common—the strength of the human spirit and its ability to survive.  Heidi will be speaking at the memorial for Columbine High School students and faculty on April 20, 2009 in Denver.

Heidi lives in Vancouver with her husband, 14-year-old daughter, and eleven-year-old son.  Heidi is proud of all that she has accomplished as a high-profile advocate and MMM Chapter leader, but also recognizes how much more there is to do.

» Click here here to visit the Beyond the Bullet Website

» Help Save Lives: Click here

After pitching in all summer, they now are urging friends and families to Become a Brady fan on Facebook.  The interns are joining campus-based efforts, such as Students for Gun Free Schools, which worked with Brady activists and allies to defeat guns on campus legislation in eleven states this year.  And each has been active in meeting with their own members of Congress this summer to discuss sensible gun violence prevention legislation – including urging their Senators to vote against national concealed carry legislation.

What drew the interns to Brady?  The startling facts about gun violence.  Guns kill more than 32 individuals every day in the United States, but in cities like Philadelphia where Michael, an intern for Brady’s Legal Action Project, calls home, more than 300 gun deaths occur in a year.  “At a certain point,” he says, “Enough is enough.”  He plans to practice law immediately after school and assist Brady through pro bono work.

Growing up, the interns lived through the country’s most violent shootings in schools and on college campuses.  Even in light of the incidents of gun violence they’ve witnessed, they recognize how difficult it is to move political leaders to act.   Peter, a college student in Georgia and another Legal Action Project intern, acknowledged, “I thought we had a much easier task in front of us.  Much of the violence can be prevented . . . but recently Congress has been unwilling to do that.  I now understand how hard Brady and its activists have to work simply to enact sensible gun laws.”

Astrid, a graduate student in law and public health, has a similar view. “I thought that law makers were more in tune with public sentiment on gun control.  I am acutely aware of the uphill battle facing Brady and other gun violence prevention groups, and I am, frankly, baffled by how legislators let themselves be bullied by the NRA and fail to stop the gun lobby’s dangerous bills.”

Anne, an intern with Brady’s research department, admits that she did not know much about the country’s gun laws before starting the internship.  “After learning about the lack of gun regulation in America, it made me angry.”  Her experience, she claims, is similar to other young people’s.  “Once they learn how few gun laws there are on the books, they will want to do something about it and push for stronger legislation to protect communities.”

The Brady Campaign and Brady Center are grateful to Amy, Chloe, Colin, Peter, Michael, Astrid, Caroline, Anne, Kerian, Kaylie, and Gillian for their energy, commitment, and good work to keeping our communities safe.

» Click here to email your U.S. Representative to close the gun show loophole