EJ Montini

The Republic | azcentral.com

Less than a month ago we wept with Richard Martinez. Now, his name doesn't ring a bell.

But that's okay. He understands.

Up until May 24, Martinez was just like us. That's what he tells me, anyway.

"I'd see reports of some terrible shooting on the news and it would get to me, as it would to any person. I'd feel bad, but I wouldn't do anything about it," he said. "That's how it goes for most of us. One of these massacres happens and we say to ourselves that Congress should do something. But then Congress does nothing – again. And what happens? More carnage."

And on May 24, one of those caught up in the carnage was Martinez's 20-year-old son, Christopher Michaels-Martinez. He was among six people killed in a shooting-and-stabbing spree in Santa Barbara, Calif. The attacker, Elliot Rodger, killed himself.

Richard Martinez became a television sensation after delivering a fierce impromptu speech in which he raged at do-nothing politicians and against the gun lobby. His exhortation of "Not one more!" became a rallying cry for those working to curb gun violence.

Since then, he's been traveling around the country, spreading the message. Last week he led a group of parents and relatives of gun violence victims to the office of Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, where they dropped off roughly 10,000 navy-blue postcards reading "Not One More."

A few days earlier Martinez was in Washington, where he met with those who'd lost loved ones in other mass shootings, people we'd seen on TV, and cried with, and whose names we now wouldn't recognize, from in places like Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., and even Tucson.

"It's been a whirlwind. But this is my way of dealing with it," Martinez told me. "My initial idea was that I would go to Congress and start knocking on doors. But my brother and some friends convinced me that was the wrong thing to do. There are a lot of people out there who have been living with this situation longer than I have. They convinced me to educate myself. So, that is what I've been doing. The bottom line, however, is that Congress is not doing its job. Don't tell me we can't make this situation better. Don't tell me we can't solve this problem. What's lacking is leadership."

Sen. Flake wasn't in his Phoenix office when Martinez and the others dropped off the postcards. For the most part politicians avoid victim families. At least victims of gun violence.

"The rest of the world is looking at us and they just can't believe that a modern country like ours in the 21st century tolerates this kind of nonsense," Martinez said. "What is allowed to happen here is the result of craven irresponsible politicians and the NRA (National Rifle Association). When are enough people going to get together and say, 'Not one more?'"

He's determined to find the answer to that question. He says he has no other choice.

"I remember thinking after the Sandy Hook massacre how something would be done," he said. "All those little kids were murdered. It's unbelievable that we haven't done anything. My message, now, is that we can't just sit around and wait for more kids to be killed. That's no way to go. Believe me, my message, what I tell everybody, is very simple: You don't want to be me."