People know Lauren Mayberry as the lead vocalist and drummer of the popular Scottish synthpop band, Chvrches, but today she was an advocate for gun control. Referencing the recent shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Mayberry said that politicians’ “thoughts and prayers” should be released in tandem with policy that can save peoples’ lives, not left to settle in the dust.
Mayberry, born in Scotland, has the privilege of an outsider’s observation when it comes to American politics. She comes from a country with one of the lowest rates of gun homicide in the world, and can see American firearm policy for what it is: flawed. A school in Mayberry’s town of Dunblane experienced its own attack in 1996 when she was still too young to attend. British history considers The Dunblane Massacre as its worst shooting in history. America hasn’t had the time to name each recent attack because they’ve occurred with growing frequency. Though she was too young to remember every detail of the attack, she remembers how it ended.
“Britain changed their gun control laws.”
Mayberry’s frustration primarily addressed Donald Trump and Mike Pence by name. She very succinctly stated Pence’s lucrative relationship with the NRA, and Trump’s lack of authority to talk about “mental health” as an aspect of the debate. She denounced the administration for taking away healthcare from those in need, only to blame them for heinous acts.
A significant enough slice of American voters, deemed “single-issue voters,” consider firearm deregulation their dogma. The debate will always be contentious and bound for compromise. Mayberry’s words offer sound advice from a citizen from a country that has a handle on the issue at hand. Watch her video below.
Photography Credit: Raymond Flotat
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