Seth Moulton is a father, a husband, a Marine, and a Democrat with a mission to bring a new generation of leaders to Congress.He was first challenged to serve our country by the pastor of his college church, Reverend Peter Gomes, who told him that it’s not enough simply to salute the flag—everyone should find a way to serve. As a result, Seth joined the United States Marine Corps in 2001, days after graduating from college and months before the attacks on 9/11. As the leader of an infantry platoon, he was among the first Americans to reach Baghdad in 2003. He served four tours in Iraq, a war he disagreed with and spoke out against—but he was proud to go, so no one had to go in his place.
As a United States Marine, I carried an assault rifle in Iraq. It saved my life more than once. I’ve seen what assault rifles can do. Nobody in America needs to own an assault rifle. I also carried two grenades every day I was in Iraq, but we’ve made a decision in this country that our citizens don’t need to walk around carrying hand grenades. We need to do the same thing with assault weapons and other weapons of war. Nobody is allowed to drive a tank down the highway, or walk into a shopping mall with grenades—nobody should be allowed to have an assault weapon either.
It’s time for commonsense gun reform. We can start by passing an assault weapons ban and background checks, not letting people who are on a terrorist no fly list buy guns, and enforcing red flag laws.