Article snippet: Amber Gustafson, a mother of three, launched her campaign for the Iowa State Senate the day after this month's gun massacre in Las Vegas. She had been planning the event for weeks, so despite the terrible news and the calls she got from friends and fellow gun-safety activists all night, she did not consider postponing. The tragedy, in fact, underscored the reason she had gotten involved in politics The time for fighting from the outside had passed, Gustafson believed. After spending years lobbying lawmakers to pass gun control solutions, she now wants to be the one in office. Gustafson is one of a growing number of gun control activists, mostly women, seeking elected office next year, especially at the state and local level. The trend is a perhaps a sign of a changing conversation nationwide over gun safety, but is also clearly the result of the work of an increasingly powerful grassroots lobbying group, Moms Demand Action. The organization has encouraged its volunteers to not only petition lawmakers, but run themselves. Moms Demand Action was founded in 2012 after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that killed 20 young children and six adults. Over just the past three years, it has grown from 4,500 active volunteers to nearly 70,000, with chapters in every state. "For nearly five years, Moms Demand Action volunteers have been working in statehouses to demand that more is done to prevent Gabby Giffords and her... Link to the full article to read more