TOMS steps up for gun control

Shoe company Toms makes the largest donation to gun control efforts.

By Savannah Simmons, Opinion Editor

TOMS shoe company is the latest corporation to get involved with gun control efforts by giving $5 million, the largest corporate donation to the cause to date, after recent tragedies due to gun violence.

Toms founder, Blake Mycoskie, announced on The Tonight Show that his company is making the donation to end gun violence along with a new campaign on their site that makes it easy for any American to send a postcard to their representative to urge passing universal background checks.

“We’re gonna do something about it,” said Mycoskie to Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show. “We’re gonna evolve our giving model so TOMS will not only continue to give shoes but we will give considerable resources to the causes and the most important issues of our time.”

An emotional Mycoskie explained that he made the decision to do something about the violence after he had a conversation with his wife about the recent Borderline shooting. Afraid to send their child to school, she called for action and Mycoskie decided that he and his company would act.

By creating a way for Americans to send postcards to their representatives pleading for universal background checks and an end to gun violence, TOMS gives people the opportunity to do more than just send a tweet that may or may not be seen and let people get involved with making a change. Many people don’t even know where to begin when it comes to contributing to a cause but this could be the catalyst for people who want to do more than just wish.

Gun control is not new, in fact, Americans are here for it. Last year after the attack in Las Vegas’ Route 91 Festival, Chris Abele, a Milwaukee County Executive tweeted, “90 percent of Americans “support universal background checks” for gun purchases.” This should be more than loud enough for the government to hear but acting on it has simply not been done yet.

With 13,312 deaths from gun violence and 323 mass shootings, America has an issue that must be taken care of as too many have been affected by gun violence. With so many people begging for a call to action, something must be done. There is no room for anyone else to get hurt but it will absolutely continue until a change is made.

The most recent group to get their stories heard on why gun violence must end are doctors. Doctors have shared their harrowing stories of bullet removal ending with the patient’s life being saved but also in tragedy where the patient did not survive.

The hashtag #ThisIsMyLane started after the National Rifle Association tweeted and told doctors to stay in their lane when speaking out about gun violence. The thing is though, this is completely their lane because they are the ones dealing with the aftermath of gun violence.

There is more than enough call to action from Americans who are all scared of what is coming next, the government needs to step up and take care of their people. Too many lives have been lost and continue to be lost the longer gun violence goes on.