Hey everyone, John Heileman here and welcome to Hell on High Water, my podcast from the

recount and I heart radio with big ups to the one and only Rizza for our dope theme music.

First things first, Happy New Year everyone by which I clearly mean hashtag fuck off 2020

hashtag hello 2021 as we roll out of one political age and into another from the Trump era

to the Biden era a great deal of change the foot in the political world but no matter

who is in the White House or which party controls Congress some huge and hugely troubling issues

as Jesus said of the poor we always have with us and one of those issues is guns and the

carnage that has been part and parcel of the perfusion of firearms in America.

So as we head into what we all dearly hope will be a brighter and more hopeful future than

the recent past we all endured last year I thought it would be good to check in with

a central figure in the fight against gun violence and for gun safety Shannon Watts.

The state of our union when it comes to guns is actually a lot better than many Americans

realize that we are making true progress in state houses and in boardrooms in this country

and I think we're on the precipice of major national change.

Shannon Watts is the founder of mom's demand action for gun sense in America a self-described

accidental activist who in the space of less than a decade emerged as the face of a grassroots

movement that with six million supporters now boast more members than the dreaded NRA.

Shannon's transformation was unexpected and took place in something like a heartbeat.

Before the horrific Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut shocked

and shook the nation in December 2012 Shannon was a stay at home mom living in Zionsville,

Indiana.

The day after Sandy Hook she started the Facebook group page to connect with other parents

...