Kim Russell is currently head of the Manhattan chapter of the Brady Campaign. The Brady Campaign is a organization that works to prevent gun violence. It was named after James Brady, Ronald Reagan’s Press secretary. He was severely injured during the attempted assassination on Reagan. She works tirelessly on these issues and tries to get legislators to pass gun laws. She started with the Moms Demand Action Group (another group we met with). She got involved with this issue because she and her friend where shot. She survived and her friend, unfortunately, did not. Then she began speaking out after the Sandy Hook shooting. On the day of our meeting we talked about the gun laws in New York and other states. We learned a lot from our conversation. One surprising thing we learned was that Montana has a open carry law, which is when a person is able to carry a gun around that is loaded and the safety is off. They also have a law that says a police officer is not allowed to ask you if you have a license for the gun you are carrying. Ms. Russell told us that the Brady Campaign is trying to get Congress to pass gun safety laws and to prevent laws from being passed that loosen gun regulations.
