Today we’d like to introduce you to Leslie Morrison
Hi Leslie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My journey as a gun violence prevention activist started from a place of loss and feeling powerless and grew into anger and action
when I realized many of our elected officials were doing the bidding of gun lobby extremists
instead of protecting our communities. Sadly, my story about being impacted by gun violence is
becoming more and more commonplace. I was seven years old when what is still the deadliest workplace shooting took place in my hometown of Edmond, Oklahoma in 1986. I regularly went to the post office with my mom and still vividly remember her sobbing that something so tragic could happen to people we knew. I was afraid to leave my mom and newborn sister after the shooting and missed so much school that I had to meet with the principle and my parents about excessive absences. The term “going
postal” became a common, albeit incredibly insensitive, phrase after this shooting.
As a teenager, I had a crush on a boy who’d been able to flee the Bosnian War because my
grandparents had hosted his older sister a few years before as part of the Foreign Exchange
Student Program and were able to provide immediate housing. Dano was beautiful, but the
atrocities he’d witnessed of his homeland being destroyed and the guilt over leaving his friends
and loved ones weighed heavily on him. He’d only been in the U.S. a few years when he was
able to purchase a handgun and end his life.
In 2013 and 2014, my childhood best friend and an amazing woman who had worked for me
years before, both recently divorced, and both a mother to one child, used firearms they’d
purchased for protection on themselves while their children were with their ex-husbands. If
you’ve ever lost someone to suicide, you’ll understand the guilt of not knowing someone you
loved was in crisis or the overwhelming regret that you hadn’t stayed in touch.
It wasn’t until the Sante Fe High School shooting in 2019, shortly followed by the El Paso
Walmart shooting, that I discovered an organization that was fighting to pass common sense
gun laws that addressed our gun violence epidemic, including suicide prevention.
I became the volunteer Local Group Lead for Moms Demand Action in Fort Bend County in the
fall of 2019 and the volunteer State Deputy Chapter Lead in 2024.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road definitely hasn’t been smooth! The biggest obstacles I’ve found are people assuming our gun
laws are better than they are, saying they support common sense gun laws but voting for
elected officials who want to gut the laws we do have in place, and elected officials who refuse
to take meaningful action. In an average year, 4,330 people die by guns and 7,726 people are wounded by guns in Texas. Having personal conversations about specific gun violence issues, sharing educational articles or social media posts or attending in-person events, and supporting activists who aren’t afraid to look their lawmakers in the eyes and demand better from them should be a priority for all Texans, especially considering firearms are the number one cause of death for children and teens, and gun violence costs Texas $51.3 billion each year.
It’s helpful to keep in mind that gun violence prevention does cover a wide of range of issues.
Domestic violence, veterans support, suicide prevention, the school-to-prison pipeline, the
Disarm Hate Campaign, and survivor support are top of mind. Research shows that closing
background check loopholes, passing Extreme Risk Protection Orders (Red Flag Laws), barring
people from owning guns after a hate crime conviction, requiring firearm relinquishment after a
domestic violence conviction, implementing waiting periods, funding Community Violence
Intervention and Prevention organizations, and raising the age to purchase semi-automatic
firearms from 18 to 21 will save lives. That may seem like a lot we should do in Texas but it’s
nothing compared to the laws in place in states with the lowest rates of gun violence.
Educating the community through the Be SMART (Secure, Model, Ask, Recognize, Tell) Campaign quickly
became my favorite way to engage with parents about the need for secure storage and asking
how others store their guns. I’ve seen countless shocked faces when I tell a story about a dear
friend finding out her parents stored a loaded handgun in the coffee table in their living
room—they had almost a dozen grandchildren who regularly visited! Please don’t assume your
child is in a home with a securely stored firearm. Simply ask, “How do you store your firearms?”
when your child is asked on a playdate or you’re visiting friends and family. Studies show
children know where firearms are stored, and no amount of training will prevent a child from
showing off their parent’s gun if they have the chance or, God forbid, use it on themselves or
others in a moment of desperation. Be SMART is a wonderful way for people who aren’t
comfortable talking about the political side of gun violence prevention and still want to make a
huge impact in their community. Please visit BeSMARTforKids.org to request a presentation at
your school, doctor’s office, local community center, or business.
There are times I joke that I must be a glutton for punishment, but I honestly can’t quit. I’ve
taught my children that we must work for justice, especially when it feels hopeless. I was
disheartened that we couldn’t pass the Justice in Policing Act in 2021. I have wonderful
relationships with our local law enforcement but that doesn’t prevent me from knowing we can always do better – this was
clearer than ever after bearing witness at George Floyd’s funeral and the social unrest that followed his murder. I testified in Austin during the
hearing after sitting through hours of gut-wrenching testimonies about police violence but the
part about ending qualified immunity shut it down. The elimination of License to Carry (LTC) was
another blow that year. Now you can legally possess and carry a firearm without any training.
The closest I’ve ever come to feeling like this work was all for nothing was when we didn’t pass
Raise the Age in 2023. We worked closely with the Uvalde families, and I was certain our
elected officials would raise the age from 18 to 21 to purchase semi-automatic firearms after
hearing the most devastating testimonies about the murder 19 children and two adults at the hands of an 18-
year-old who legally purchased his first Smith and Wesson semi-automatic weapon the day
after his birthday. The bill didn’t pass, and it took me a long time to stop feeling personally
responsible for failing them. We will fight to raise the age again this year, and I’m hopeful since a recent survey by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston found widespread support among Texans for a range of gun safety measures, including that 85% of Texans support raising the age to purchase AR-15-style rifles from 18 to 21.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I think it’s important for people to know they can begin fighting for something they believe in no matter their experience in politics or community organizing. I’d been in management and education with Estee Lauder Companies for ten years
before moving to Houston with my two young children. My husband traveled a lot when we
moved here, so I stayed home with the kids. I was very involved with the PTA at my son’s
school and was setting up a holiday market in the school cafeteria when the Sandy Hook
shooting took place. The school went on lockdown, and we later learned twenty children my
son’s age were killed that day. We’d started the adoption process just six weeks before and I still
don’t quite know if I later made the decision to homeschool because of that terrible day or
because I wanted my biological children and adopted daughter to have more time to bond.
We’re halfway through our eleventh year of homeschooling (it’s been a wonderful experience for
our family), and my three teenagers are now volunteers with Students Demand Action. I guess
that happens when you begin attending press conferences, marches, and survivor events from
a young age!
My husband and I are gun owners who securely store our firearms and ammunition separately. I love to shoot sporting clays with shotguns and target shoot with bolt-action .22 rifles. I’m a Scoutmaster for an amazing troop of 33 girls and many of them, including my daughters, earned
their Rifle Merit Badge last year. I’d like to make it clear that even though all three of my teenagers enjoy shooting and have received thorough training, none of them have access to unsecured firearms. There’s a misconception that you must be anti-firearm to be in
gun violence prevention. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve stunned many people who
approach me in my Moms Demand Action shirt and ask why I want to take their firearms by
responding that I have my own. I then share about policies that will keep our communities safe and promote responsible gun ownership.
Captaining the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Hike for Hope has brought me immense peace the last few years. Working with community partners like Expose Excellence Youth Program, The Forgotten Third, and Fort Bend Women’s Center always leaves me feeling
like we truly are doing life-saving work. My church, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, is a
wonderful gun violence prevention ally and they’ve allowed Moms Demand Action to hold numerous events in the sanctuary that
truly feel like a blessing to our community. As a member of the Fort Bend Firearm Safety Council and
helping found the Fort Bend Queer Alliance Committee fills me with hope for finding common
ground and moving toward a place of peace. And honestly, I’ve made some of the most
incredible friends. Moms Demand Action volunteers frequently use the term #KeepGoing and
it’s these friendships that make it possible.
Therapy and physical activity are now a must for me! I play the piano, garden, read, and play
games with my family. I’ve also found that serving others really is self-care for me. I’ve hosted
regular blood drives with Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center for a few years now because victims
of gun violence require 10 times more blood units than other trauma patients. My children and I
have had a weekly Meals on Wheels delivery route for eight years and it has been lifechanging.
The term Helper’s High is real! Time spent in nature always helps me recalibrate, so monthly
campouts with my troop are far from a hardship on my part.
You can easily join Moms Demand Action by texting JOIN to 644-33. If you’re not quite ready for
that, pay attention during this legislative session and call your elected officials if they’re trying to
pass bad gun bills. The Demand Action and 5 Calls apps are great ways to find out about urgent
issues, give you the numbers and email addresses of who to contact, and they even provide a
script if you’re nervous about what to say. Sharing about your activism will inspire others to get
off the sidelines. When it feels like I’m fighting an uphill battle with no end in sight, I find peace
from this passage from the Talmud, “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do
justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work but
neither are you free to abandon it.”
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://momsdemandaction.org
- Instagram: @lesnmolearnloveandgrow
- Other: https://give.everytown.org/fundraiser/6025458
Image Credits
The picture where I’m behind a table and handing information to a mother and her children was taken by Yi-Chin Lee. yichinleephotography.com
