Standing Our Ground

July 15, 2018
The mother of a son slain by gun violence advocates for tighter legislation.In a horrific act of violence that garnered national media attention, social justice advocate and breast cancer survivor McBath lost her 17-year-old son Jordan Davis in a shooting at a Florida gas station. The murder occurred after licensed gun owner Michael Dunn felt that Davis and his friends were playing rap music too loudly in their car. Dunn used his home state's Stand Your Ground statute in an attempt to exonerate himself from any convictions, but he was charged with first-degree murder. The author painstakingly retraces the harrowing ordeal as well as her own history as a flight attendant, her first marriage, and the legacies of controversial groups like the National Rifle Association. She also openly shares her thoughts on prejudice and race relations in America, as applied to her son's incident, and what she believes to be a miraculous faith-based healing of her breast cancer. Her grief eventually led her into dedicated activism. Aided by her faith, McBath became an impassioned leader in the fight for stricter gun laws. As the national spokesperson and faith and outreach leader for Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, the author believes shared stories and experiences collectively form the greatest collaborative tools against gun violence. Her motivational viewpoints will surely provide fodder for inspired discussion. While McBath's story is moving, poignant, and clearly written from the heart, secular readers may take issue with her stance on personal protection: She opines repeatedly that she believes "surrendering my personal safety not to guns, but to God, felt like the ultimate security." In this fervidly written narrative, the author discusses growing up with a father who was a licensed, gun-toting hunter, and while she is not opposed to the Second Amendment, she believes change is necessary to prevent further atrocities like that which befell her beloved son.A heartfelt call to action for advocates of common-sense gun laws.

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July 16, 2018
McBath, a spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety, narrates the gut-wrenching story of her son’s 2012 murder and its aftermath. Jordan Davis, 17, was in the back seat of a friend’s car at a Jacksonville, Fla., convenience store when Michael Dunn, incensed by the boys’ loud music and their refusal to turn it down, fired 10 shots into the car, killing Jordan. Dunn, who is white, tried unsuccessfully to argue in court that he shot African-American Davis because he was “standing his ground,” a Florida law that gives “individuals who felt endangered the right to shoot and kill and ask questions later.” In 2014, Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. McBath channeled her grief into activism: she served as the community outreach leader for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. She often writes of her faith, and how it emboldened her to forgive her son’s murderer (the Lord has asked me... to forgive his murderer”). McBath tells a powerful story, and her grace, humility, and determined spirit will serve as inspiration to many.