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On March 5, 2019, the New Hampshire House of Representatives conducted a hearing on an Emergency Risk Protection Order bill at which female survivors testified about loved ones taken by gun violence. The room was also full of volunteers from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America wearing their trademark red t-shirts.
ERPO is a life-saving policy that allow family members and law enforcement officials to temporarily disarm individuals in crisis and at risk of violence. But three Republican men at the hearing—Reps. Daryl Abbas, Scott Wallace and David Welch—weren’t taking the discussion seriously. They wore pearl necklaces to mock female GVP advocates in the room, portraying them as out-of-touch elitists only interested in looking fashionable. MDA founder Shannon Watts and others were outraged and shared photos of the necklace-wearing legislators on social media.
Afterwards, an incoherent cover story was concocted by the leader of the pro-pro-gun Women’s Defense League to shield the GOP legislators. WDL president Kim Morin also called MDA volunteers “harpies.”
Please contact Reps. Abbas, Scott and/or Welch through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:
I was outraged to see photos of you and your GOP colleagues wearing pearl necklaces and AR-15 lapel pins at a hearing on the life-saving Emergency Risk Protection Order policy. For years, I have seen pro-gun activists belittle women who work on gun violence prevention as pampered, out-of-touch suburbanites “clutching their pearls.” As a voter and citizen, I refuse to tolerate this type of boorish, unprofessional behavior from my elected officials. You should be ashamed of yourself to have engaged in such a display of misogyny, particularly on a day when female victims and survivors of gun violence were testifying. You weren’t on my radar before. But if you don’t apologize to the women who were in the hearing room that day I will be doing everything I can—peacefully and democratically—to make sure you never see elected office again after this term.
Rep. Daryl Abbas
Phone: (603) 560-1929
Email: Daryl.Abbas@leg.state.nh.us
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarylAbbas4Salem/ (might be temporarily down)
Rep. Scott Wallace
Phone: (603) 642-6379
Email: Scott.Wallace@leg.state.nh.us
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/repscottwallace/
Rep. David Welch
Phone: (603) 642-4402
Email: welch4016@outlook.com
Once you have contacted Reps. Abbas, Scott and/or Welch, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!