We are a group of 450 concerned citizens in the Dubuque area lead by 12 community leaders on our board. The Coalition was formed immediately after the tragic loss of innocent life at Sandy Hook School in Newtown. Several concerned citizens including many women religious contacted each other, exasperated and worried. They decided to meet for prayer and meditation 2 days later at Mount Carmel, the motherhouse of the sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary here in Dbq. After that first gathering they concluded that “we MUST work to prevent horrible events like this from ever happening again”. Our founder Mary Sawyer and others started by diving in to the discover the extent and root cause of gun violence in
America. They decided to form our coalition to inform others on what they learned and to gain support for activities to evolve from our gun culture to a culture of peace and respect. They created our mission statement which reads “ The Coalition for Nonviolence (CNV) acts to address the crisis of weapons of violence in order to create a more peaceful and nonviolent community.”
Early on we decided that we should collaborate with other like-minded groups in our area to share the message and gain support for changing our culture. We work with NAACP, Dubuque Area Congregations United, all 5 local congregations of women religious, Mom’s Demand Action, Indivisible Dbq., Dubuque Peace and Justice, All local colleges, Sons of Abraham, the North-end Neighborhood Association and others. In the twelve years since our founding the CNV has created public awareness on the facts of gun violence in many ways. We’ve written letters to the editor and Op Eds in our local paper, conducted radio and TV interviews, Communicated via e-mail and social media, sponsored a page, created both a sticker campaign and a button campaign and hosted at least three major events each year. In our communication to the public we make 4 major points:
- More than 100 people die and more than 200 people are injured by gun violence EVERY DAY in America. This trauma and senseless loss of life can be prevented.
- The Gun Lobby works every day to drum up FEAR in the general public. They do this for the sole purpose of selling more guns ad generating profits for gun manufacturers and lobbying groups like the radicalized National R***e Association.
- Preventing Gun Violence doe NOT mean that we will take away your guns.
- Reasonable measures supported by more than 70% of Americans can prevent most of this trauma from gun violence. Measures like Universal Background checks, gun owner licensing, locking guns and am******on in a gun safe and Extreme Risk Protection orders. In 2021 and 22 we focused on informing the citizens of Iowa about the truth behind the gun lobby effort to pass the Iowa referendum on the Reckless Gun Amendment and to vote NO. Since this passed, we are informing Iowans how to avoid the resulting increase in gun violence and encouraging them to vote for candidates who put the rights of people before the “rights” of the gun lobby. In order to amplify our message to Iowa legislators, two CNV board members enlisted as lobbyists to the Iowa legislature representing DBQCNV.
