Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., speaks about gun violence during the final night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday, August 22, 2024. | Source: Bill Clark / Getty
Georgia’s Democratic Congresswoman Lucy McBath has been vocal about her commitment to gun laws and countering the type of violence from guns that took the life of her teenage son 12 years ago.
On Saturday, McBath continued that tradition by sharing a poignant open letter she wrote to her son, Jordan Davis, who was shot to death in 2012 at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. Michael Dunn, 45, opened fire into the car in which Jordan, 17, was sitting with friends. Dunn’s lethal force followed his complaints about “loud music” being played in the car with Jordan.
Previously, McBath has shared open letters to Jordan that she’s written on his birthday. This weekend, though, McBath commemorated her son’s life on the anniversary of his death. McBath posted the letter on her social media channels along with a picture of her alongside a young Jordan.
McBath’s letter follows below:
Dear Jordan,
By now, you’d be 29 years old.
You deserved better than this. You deserved to come home this Thanksgiving, to fill up your plate, and to tell us what’s new in life.
By now, maybe you’d even bring home a girlfriend or someone to introduce to the family.
But that wasn’t what happened.
You were ripped away from us.
A man, emboldened by reckless gun laws, believed your life to be less valuable than his unchecked rage – a devastating consequence of a broken system.
I promised that I would do everything in my power to prevent our tragedy from happening to any other family.
I shared our story to anyone who would listen.
And when I ran for Congress – you were right there with me at every step. Every time someone told us we couldn’t win, the time wasn’t right, or that we should wait our turn.
We made history.
Because of the power of our story – of your story – this year we’ve spoken on stages we previously never thought possible.
We’ve been made a target of those trying to tear us down over and over again.
But the worst thing in my life that could possibly happen to me already has.
So I refuse to be silent.
Jordan, I love you. One day, I’ll see you again, but until then, God’s not through with us yet.
Your mom, Lucy
I’ve spent the last 12 Thanksgivings without my son Jordan.
Because on this day in 2012, Jordan was shot and killed while “playing loud music.”
Gun violence survivors know the pain of losing a loved one never leaves you – especially over the holidays. So as I spend time this… pic.twitter.com/GkW6dgdVme
— Lucy McBath (@lucymcbath) November 23, 2024
On Nov. 23, 2012, Jordan Davis was shot and killed by Michael Dunn following an argument over how loudly music was being played inside Davis’ vehicle. Dunn, who had a concealed weapons permit, was annoyed by the loud rap music. When Davis didn’t comply with Dunn’s demands to turn the music down, Dunn fired his handgun at Davis’ car multiple times, hitting him in the legs, lungs and aorta.
Dunn was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He is paying for his actions, but Jordan Davis will never get another chance at life.
Nearly 10 years after the shooting, a Florida statute made it unlawful for anyone in a vehicle to turn up their music too loud.
McBath was able to turn her personal tragedy into political triumph when she won her congressional primary ahead of the historic 2018 midterm elections. She went on to win the general election after running on a gun control platform in a very pro-gun state and credited her son for propelling her political career to the doorsteps of Congress after she won her primary.
Prior to her election, McBath had never held elected office. However, after Jordan’s death, she left her job as a flight attendant and became a gun control activist, working as a spokeswoman for Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. She along with too many other Blck women who have lost their sons to preventable violence have become collectively known as the “Mothers of the Movement” for their efforts toward social justice.
McBath stepped onto the national stage at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, joining eight other mothers whose Black children were killed by cops or gun violence. She originally wanted to run for a seat in Georgia’s state House. However, the shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February prompted McBath to seek a congressional seat.
Earlier this month, McBath won [re]election to Georgia’s 6th Congressional District — a district different from the state’s 7th Congressional District that she’s represented on Capitol Hill since her reelection in 2022 — nearly a year after a federal judge upheld Georgia’s controversial Republican-led redistricting plan.
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