"My parents raised me to believe I could do anything and gender was never a part of it. When I was 18 years I went to Florida to pick up a car from my father and drive it back to Texas. He gave me his car and he also gave me his gun. He said, "You never point this gun at someone unless you plan on killing them." That was the first time he showed to me that he is scared to have a girl in the world and it was when I realized I may not be as powerful and untouchable as I thought I was or as they raised me to be." - Deborah Cannon is a photojournalist and lives in Austin, Texas.
Nicole Hockley
In honor of the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting I am re-posting this EVE. In her eyes I saw the sadness of her loss. But I also saw the calm determination to work towards gun control reform. Her son who was killed would be 11 this year.
"That protective instinct that comes from becoming a mother - you want to be your best for them. Feeling the movement of the babies inside you and knowing you are growing a person is overwhelming, humbling, exciting and scary. I have two boys, one is no longer living. He was murdered when he was six years old in the Sandy Hook School shooting." - Nicole Hockley is the Founder and Managing Director of Sandy Hook Promise.
Regina Garcia
"I was 17 pregnant and single. I didn't tell my family because I was scared. They thought I was getting fat and kept putting me on diets. When I was 9 months pregnant I started having pains and I called my friend. I snuck out of the house and my friend took me to the hospital. She went back to my house to tell my mother I was pregnant and in the hospital and my mother passed out. I was going to give the baby up for adoption but my Mother said we should keep him and raise him. When he was 20 he was shot in the back by a kid who had to kill someone to get initiated into a gang." - Regina Garcia is part of the New Jersey Chapter of Mothers In Charge