"Americans, and especially American women, will vote in the next election with two things on their minds: guns and abortion," said Shannon Watts, America's most notorious activist against gun violence.

Passing through Washington, the elegant fifty-year-old, accustomed to traveling under a false identity as she is hated by an ultra-radical fringe of the country, receives AFP journalists in her hotel room. She has 45 minutes, between an Instagram live and lunch next to Hillary Clinton and other women who matter.

"We are traumatized"

Not a hesitation in the voice of this mother of five, who is said to have nerves of steel. The relentless repetition of killings and shootings would demoralize even the most committed, but not her. Immersed in this fight for more than ten years, Shannon Watts even promises that her side is "winning". On Saturday, a man with an assault rifle killed eight people at a Dallas-area mall. "We are not desensitized. We are traumatized," tweeted the pasionaria of the "anti-gun".

"Americans want to end gun violence," she said. Republicans, great defenders of the right to bear arms, are also "worried about their children at school". This "fear" led her to found her association, Moms Demand Action. On December 14, 2012, an unbalanced man opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing 26 people, including 20 6- and 7-year-olds. That night, Shannon Watts went to bed "devastated", "in tears". But also "full of rage", with the conviction that she must "do something".

The next day, she began her research. She found a few associations, all run by men. However, she dreams of "an army of women who are afraid of nothing". So, she creates it: part of a mini Facebook group, Moms Demand Action is now a powerful organization anchored in the 50 American states, which claims 10 million supporters. Its development has benefited from massive financial support from billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

Red T-shirts

The red T-shirts of their members have become familiar presences at demonstrations or in front of capitols, where many elected officials have been able to verify their influence at the ballot box. A master of social networks, Shannon Watts highlights 500 local and national legislative successes, including countering the influence of the first gun lobby, the National Rifle Association. Certainly, with a conservative Supreme Court, judicial setbacks also exist, fueling fatalism: gun dramas, even the most tragic, no longer trigger large demonstrations today in the United States.

But, for her, no gathering will be enough anyway to "change the laws". It is necessary to go through a hard work of activist, "not really glamorous", insists the brunette with clear eyes. Shannon Watts believes in ambitious future federal actions — for now doomed to fail, with Republicans controlling the House of Representatives. In its view, it would be necessary to impose at the national level the verification of the criminal and psychiatric records of the purchasers of weapons. Or "ban assault rifles," associated with the killings that plunge America into mourning. Democratic President Joe Biden, of the same opinion, has so far failed to do so.

Threatened

There is, however, one measure that Moms Demand Action does not support: an outright ban on individual weapons. "There are a whole bunch of reasons why you might need a gun," says Shannon Watts. His father owned one, as did many of his organization's activists. She recalls that other countries, such as Israel or Switzerland, have "a lot of weapons, but little gun violence". "These two things are not incompatible." At 52, after ten years leading "Moms Demand Action", she will hand over this year to a new director, Angela Ferrell-Zabala.

Shannon Watts remains tight-lipped about her future. She just admits that she "does not exclude" getting involved in politics. A continuation seems logical, his commitment having ensured him a national reputation. But he has also made her a target, in a country where the attachment to arms is for some visceral. From the first days, she received threats. Heavily armed men were evicted from events where she intervened. She travels with someone in charge of her security, including locating "the nearest hospital to take me to, in case of shooting," she says. Shannon Watts, however, says she refuses to be intimidated. "If our children die, we have nothing left to lose"

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