Julianne Moore is adding her voice to the many calling for gun ownership reform following the horrific uptick in random mass shootings. She’s doing so in a way that sounds nonthreatening to gun owners and is quite practical. Moore is advocating for background checks to gun licensure in a process which she compares to the reform in the automobile industry. She likens it to the way that people apply for driver’s licenses and makes it clear that she does not want to weaken the second amendment. Moore is also enlisting the help of her famous friends to join the cause. She’s partnering with the established gun safety nonprofit group, Everytown for Gun Safety, to create a celebrity offshoot of the organization called the Everytown Creative Council. Here’s some of what she told People, with more at the source:

Joining forces with Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the U.S., Moore is now launching the Everytown Creative Council, which includes members of the creative community who support gun violence prevention.

“As actors, we are citizens first so we believe in the Constitution and the Second Amendment,” Moore says. “But 92 percent of the people in the United States are in favor of background checks, too, so I don’t feel like I’m in the minority. I definitely feel like I’m in the majority here.”

The actress equates gun safety with strives that have been made in the automobile industry as well. “For cars, you have to have training and you have to have a license, and you wear seat belts and we have airbags and we have all of these things in place that have reduced fatalities unbelievably,” Moore says. “And it was a totally unregulated industry at first. I feel like something that is very sensible and straight forward can be done also with guns.”

Moore hopes the Council will ultimately help create more awareness for change. “Call your state legislator, lobby for it in your own community. Talk about it culturally, too, there are plenty of gun owners who are interested in safety,” she says.

“I know people who own guns who have a gun safe because they have children in their house. These are responsible people. By talking about it, we can admit it’s a problem and we can admit that we want to work together to solve it.”

To date, 79 celebrities including Steve Carrell, Reese Witherspoon and Ellen DeGeneres have already joined the Council and the list continues to grow. “I was going through my address book alphabetically. That’s all I did. ‘Please, are you interested,’ and the response has been overwhelming. I’m so, so thrilled. Everybody feels this way about this issue,” Moore adds. “I feel like with gun safety, there have been many people who feel threatened by saying something but I don’t think I’m saying anything that’s unreasonable. With all of these rights that we have in our Constitution come a great deal of responsibility, and I think the founding fathers would agree with me.”

[From People]

I’ve actually made similar points to my friends – that gun ownership is easier than getting a license to drive and that it should have similar safeguards in place. I don’t know this from direct experience as I’m not a gun owner. I might go farther than Moore in my regulation recommendations, but she’s focusing on solutions which have a chance of being implemented in our gun-happy nation.

Noted economist Malcolm Gladwell did an interview on NPR this morning outlining the points he made in his New Yorker article about the threshold of violence. Gladwell made the comparison between school shootings and looting, stating that the first school shooters at Columbine (I’m not writing their names) were significantly disturbed, but that once something catches on more people (teens) are willing to join, similar to the way that looting and rioting spread in a city. As for stopping the spread of gun violence, he said that it’s not as simple as the news media refusing to use the names of mass murderers (although of course the media doesn’t do that) because the shooters become famous online. Gladwell downplayed access to guns, which seemed incredibly short sighted.

Germany was facing a school shooting issue after two high profile cases. They instituted tougher gun laws following the Wittenburg shooting in 2009, including strict registration requirements and a national gun registry. Mass shootings were nearly eliminated. Yes ideas can spread but they require the hardware to follow through.

Moore is shown in the header in Chanel on 10-12 at the Mademoiselle Prive Exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London. She’s also shown on 10-13 (sequin skirt, booties) and on 9-28 at the NY premiere of Freeheld at the Moma (velvet dress with bow. Credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet

Julianne Moore urges background checks for guns, similar to driver’s licenses

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Julianne Moore urges background checks for guns, similar to driver’s licenses

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