How a Buddhist Mom and Activist Took on the National Rifle Association

The day after the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012, Shannon Watts, a former communications executive and stay-at-home mom of five, founded Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Since then, the grassroots initiative has matured into a nationwide movement with over 6 million supporters fighting to end gun violence. Now the largest gun-prevention organization in the US, Moms Demand Action has had major successes at the ballot box, on school boards, city councils, in state legislatures, and in corporate America. In the latest episode of Tricycle Talks, Watts tells Tricycle’s editor-in-chief James Shaheen and cohost Sharon Salzberg about what it’s like to work with communities afflicted by gun violence and how her Buddhist meditation practice has kept her in the fight despite Twitter trolls and fierce pushback from the National Rifle Association.