Common Sense From a Million Moms

Sherry Fortelny of Huntington Beach and her new women friends have a theory about gun control that seems perfectly plausible to them.

It was around Labor Day that they began to plan their May 14 Mother’s Day Million Mom March on Washington. They figure if they can give birth in nine months, they can pull this off in the same amount of time.

“We’re planning by gestation periods,” Fortelny says with her infectious laugh. She’s the Orange County coordinator for this effort.

The women have another theory, that nobody can influence politicians like a bunch of moms. A whole bunch of moms. Maybe even on gun control legislation.

We’ll see. I wish them well.

Women nationwide who favor federal gun control legislation plan to gather on the Mall near the Capitol on Mother’s Day to push for the kinds of gun laws that would just about drive the National Rifle Assn. insane.

I wonder if perhaps another name might have been better for their nationwide drive. They may have overestimated how difficult it is logistically to get a million people into one city on a holiday. I have this fear that some national media will focus on their failure to come up with a million people, rather than the dialogue they have planned on gun issues.

Nevertheless, how can you not admire people willing to travel cross-country for legislation so sorely needed?

Even if not successful, the Million Mom March is at least making political activists out of many women who have been busy raising children and haven’t taken to the streets for a cause before--or at least since their college days. Like Sherry Fortelny.

A paralegal for a Santa Ana firm, Fortelny, 46, is a former flower child who set aside the Age of Aquarius to raise four children. She left the protest movement while at Cal State Fullerton when one of her babies got popped in the side of the head by someone’s protest sign at an anti-nuclear power plant rally.

“I realized then I just couldn’t raise children and do this at the same time,” she said.

But with her children now mostly grown, Fortelny realized that she missed being involved. Three things led her to the gun control issue.

The first came last year when one of her sons, then 15, was returning from a Knott’s Berry Farm dance with friends. Two carloads of punks cut off their vehicle and then beat them half to death just for the fun of it. At the hospital, Fortelny said, she slumped to the floor and said to herself, “Thank God his attackers were not carrying guns. If they had been, he would not have survived.”

The second influence was the mad shooting spree by two gun-toting students last April 20 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. Fortelny, a native of Colorado, has a cousin who teaches in that same school district. Like it did for many parents, Columbine hit Fortelny hard.

The third incident was the shooting last Aug. 10 at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, where a gunman wounded five people, including three children, and then killed a nearby postal worker.

When Fortelny heard about the Million Mom March two months ago, she registered on its Web site to participate. Two days later, she got a call from Gail Powers, the California coordinator. Powers was a new activist herself. She had a son in day care at that Granada Hills center. Though he came out safely, the incident propelled her to do something about our gun-crazy society.

The march coordinators have divided the country into districts. Powers asked Fortelny if she would spearhead the drive for recruits in Orange County.

One of the first things Fortelny did was reach Mary Leigh and Charles Blek, who head a south Orange County gun control group. The parents of a murdered son, the Bleks are the most active from this county on gun legislation. They are among the founders of the Bell Campaign, a new national group lobbying for gun control legislation at all government levels.

Through the Bleks, Fortelny has made contact with numerous local groups to push her new cause. And she’s found some takers. “We’ve got moms who are asking their churches or their organizations to sponsor them for the Washington trip,” Fortelny said.

The women’s approach is to persuade the unconvinced that gun control is a safety issue, not a political issue. Yet they know they need to make it a political issue to get anything done.

“I really believe this march can be a catalyst for change,” Fortelny said. “It will at least bring it to the forefront in this year’s national election, when it might not have even been an issue before.”

For anyone who’s a member of the National Rifle Assn., I wouldn’t suggest you review their goals just before eating: Mandatory safety locks for all handguns, no more than one handgun purchase per month, national handgun registration and licensing and background checks on everybody who buys a gun.

In other words, plain, simple, common-sense gun laws.

Anyone interested in learning more, the Web site is https://www.millionmommarch.com, and the toll-free number is (888) 989-MOMS.

The founder of the Million Mom March, Donna Dees-Thomases of West Caldwell, N.J., returns to that baby-making theory on her group’s Web site: “If we mothers can make babies in nine months, surely Congress can pass tougher gun laws to protect our babies in that same amount of time.”

Maybe it will take a million moms--or at least a huge gathering--to turn up the heat. Fortelny is optimistic:

“Let’s face it, when moms decide to do something, it usually gets done.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday and Thursday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 564-1049 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com.