Gun-control advocates bombard Jeff Flake's office with postcards

• Outspoken Isla Vista-shooting parent Richard Martinez%2C the daughter of the slain Sandy Hook Elementary School principal and survivors of the Tucson shooting that injured then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords collaborated Friday.
• They dropped off about 10%2C000 postcards reading %22Not One More%22 at Sen. Jeff Flake%27s office.
• They worked with Arizona chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America%2C Arizonans for Gun Safety.

The parents of murdered children, the children of murdered parents and people concerned about gun violence dropped off about 10,000 navy-blue postcards reading "Not One More" at Republican Sen. Jeff Flake's office in Phoenix on Friday morning.

Isla Vista, Calif., parent Richard Martinez led the group, which included members of the Arizona chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Arizonans for Gun Safety and survivors of the Tucson shooting that injured then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

For more than an hour, dozens walked into Flake's Camelback Road office. They were permitted into the office only in groups of three.

Flake's staffers spoke with advocates because he was out of state.

"This is Patrice," said Deborah Parker, 55, of Chandler, her hands on the shoulders of an 8-year-old in post-swim-class braids.

Then Parker held up a poster bearing the smiling image of a teenage girl. "And this is my daughter, Lindsay. She was murdered in Chandler in 2006 by a felon with an AR-15 (a semi-automatic rifle). She was sitting on the porch at a party talking with friends, and there was a drive-by shooting.

"Lindsay was Patrice's mom."

The poster read: Lindsay Parker. May 26, 1987 - Dec. 3, 2006. Her senior class portrait dominates. She's sitting on a swing, the ropes entwined with pale pink roses that match her pastel top.

"Before, I felt alone, like I was the only one going through this," Parker said. "But after Newtown, it was like there was this whole group of us."

This was the fifth gun-sense advocacy rally Patrice had attended. She said they are "pretty fun."

"And we'll go to lunch after this. Maybe ice cream," she said, grabbing Deborah's hand and smiling.

These postcards are just some of the 2.4 million postcards that were inspired by Martinez's words after Elliot Rodger murdered his son, University of California-Santa Barbara student Christopher Michaels-Martinez, and five others in Isla Vista in May.

He said: "I'm going to ask every person I can find to send a postcard to every politician they can think of with three words on it: 'Not one more.' He called for gun control and blaming "craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA."

Martinez spoke forcefully, hitting his talking points over and over, in front of each new TV camera and group of advocates: broaden background checks, make congressional representatives work for the public, and vote out of office those who fail to enact "responsible, sensible gun laws."

"I lost my son. I have nothing else to do now," Martinez said, holding up a sign that read: "I'm a gun-sense voter."

"Any delay in getting this done means more kids are going to die," he said. "It's a life-and-death issue."

Kara Pelletier, 48, joined Mom's Demand 10 days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., motivated by fear for her children, 6 and 8.

"There's an incredible imbalance of power between lobbyists and those passionate about gun violence," she said. "We need to send a message to Sen. Flake that we've got his back on this and we're here to support him. We'll be here in five years when he runs for re-election, and we need his support in return."

That language is part of the Mom's Demand strategy: to show politicians that mothers who want to end gun violence are a significant voting bloc and that they will vote for politicians who vote to strengthen background-check laws and limit the size of gun magazines.

In 2011, when Giffords was shot in the head, her friend and colleague, then-Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. raced to the hospital in Tucson to pray for her.

Two years later, he voted against the bill to expand background checks, which was supported by the advocacy group Giffords runs with her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, Americans for Responsible Solutions.

Flake's office emailed a statement about the morning visit: "Sen. Flake continues to hope that Congress takes up legislation to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill – which would pass overwhelmingly – instead of insisting on a universal background-check bill, which doesn't have the votes to pass the Senate or the House."

Jodi Sherman, 54, of Phoenix, said she would vote for Flake for the first time ever if he changed his position on gun legislation.

And even though her friend, Judy Paul, 56, of Phoenix, said she had no faith in Flake changing his stance on gun control, Paul still showed up to drop off postcards, saying she just wanted to be another body in the photos, another voice in the office.

Former state Rep. Ruben Gallego and former Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, both of whom are running for the 7th Congressional District seat that soon will be vacated by retiring Rep. Ed Pastor, attended the event and talked with people.

Tucson shooting survivor Daniel Hernandez helped organize the postcard drop and managed the crowd. He introduced the speakers, who included Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung.