Children's Defense Fund Partners with One Million Moms for Gun Control; Homemade Valentines and Broken-Hearted Teddy Bears for Congress

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Children's Defense Fund announced a partnership with One Million Moms for Gun Control to deliver a powerful message to all members of Congress on Valentine's Day – two months to the day following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The grassroots movement One Million Moms for Gun Control and the Children's Defense Fund have launched a "Have A Heart" social media campaign, asking Moms to make Valentine's Day cards with their children for their members of Congress with this message: "Have a heart. Moms demand action on common sense gun safety laws. I'm a Mom. I vote."  The Children's Defense Fund and One Million Moms for Gun Control will hand-deliver the homemade hearts and a broken-hearted teddy bear with the message, "Protect Children, Not Guns" to each member of Congress on Valentine's Day. Each member will also receive the Children's Defense Fund's federal policy agenda and Protect Children, Not Guns factsheets.

The Children's Defense Fund and One Million Moms for Gun Control want every member of Congress to fast track common sense gun safety laws to prevent more broken hearts in America, since every 30 minutes a child or teen is shot by a gun.

"The mass shooting of elementary school children has galvanized the country," said Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund.  "But the killing of children by gun violence is not new. It has been a relentlessly unreported and under-reported plague that has snuffed out the lives of 119,079 children and teenagers since 1979 when data was first collected. That's an average of 3,721 child and teen deaths every year for 32 years. That's 4,763 classrooms of 25 children each. Gun violence saturates our children's lives and threatens them every day. It is long past time to pass common sense gun safety laws to protect children instead of guns."

More information about the "Have A Heart" campaign can be found here, and more information about the "Protect Children, Not Guns" campaign can be found here.

About the Children's Defense Fund:
The Children's Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind^® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. (www.childrensdefense.org)

About One Million Moms for Gun Control:
One Million Moms for Gun Control (www.onemillionmomsforguncontrol.org) was created after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook to demand action on common-sense gun legislation. The non-partisan grassroots movement of American mothers is demanding new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that have jeopardized the safety of our children and families. In just two months, the organization has established nearly 80 chapters across the United States and has tens of thousands of members.

For More Information Contact:

Children's Defense Fund
Patti Hassler
Vice President of Communications and Outreach
202-662-3554 office
[email protected]

One Million Moms for Gun Control
Shannon Watts, Founder
Phone: 404-580-3500
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Children's Defense Fund