My name is Rory Graves, and I am from Bothell.

I know more than most how gun violence can affect families and the communities they live in.

I know, because my mom’s husband of more than 20 years shot her in 2012.

Thankfully she survived, but far too many women in Washington — and far too many women in the rest of America — aren’t so lucky.

But there’s something we can do THIS YEAR to help reduce the number of people murdered by their intimate partners, and that is to pass House Bill 1840.

The Washington state Senate will be holding committee hearings Wednesday — click here now to tell your senator to support this lifesaving bill.

As a young mother, I had hoped to look to my mom for support and advice raising my kids. Instead, I spent more than a year helping her recover and lived in fear that her attacker would show up at my door to finish what he’d started — or, even worse, kill me and the rest of my family.

We know that the presence of a gun in domestic violence situations increases the risk of homicide for women by 500 percent — that’s right, 500 percent.

And House Bill 1840 would make it illegal for anyone subject to an order of protection to own a firearm.

Given the dysfunction in our state legislature, I figured there was no way this could pass — but the state House passed it unanimously last week. Now we have an incredible opportunity to make a simple change in the law — and save a lot of lives. My mom and I are going to Olympia to demand they support this legislation. Will you raise your voice with us?

Speak out now, and tell your state senator to support House Bill 1840.

We need to give police officers the tools they need to keep guns out of the hands of known domestic abusers.

Thank you for your support.

Rory Graves