Mothers can be a powerful force, especially if they feel their children are in danger. Don’t get between a mama bear and her cubs, for your own sake.

The mothers of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in American are proving to be just as fierce in their fight against the gun violence they see threatening their babies.

These good mothers believe their children are in extreme danger from gun violence -- at home, on the streets and in schools. They’re alarmed at the rate of suicides and accidental deaths involving guns and claiming the lives of too many youths.

Danielle Prokopchak, who lives in the Harrisburg area, joined Moms Demand Action after a close call with a gun in her own home. The alarm is evident in her voice as she describes the day a loaded gun fell from a friend’s pocket onto her floor and spun around for several paralyzing seconds. It stopped with the barrel pointed directly at her baby.

“That did it for me,” she said. Prokopchak has been working to combat gun violence as part of the national team of mothers committed to lobbying for what they call “common sense gun laws.”

One of the gun laws Moms Demand Action supports is pretty common sense, and it has bipartisan support from state legislators. It would temporarily take guns away from people who are openly suicidal or who have directly threatened to hurt people.

People in attendance applaud after the Pittsburgh City Council voted 6-3 to pass gun-control legislation, Tuesday, April 2, 2019, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)AP

Senate Bill 90, known as the Extreme Risk Protection Order Bill (ERPO), would provide the legal mechanism to take guns away from those who are dangerous to themselves or to others. House Bill 1075 would do the same.

What could make more sense than taking guns away from people who are out of control and a threat to themselves and others?

Right now, Prokopchak and the other mothers say Pennsylvania doesn’t have a law that allows authorities to disarm people they suspect are planning to hurt someone. That makes no sense.

Moms Demand Action hold common sense gun law rally at Pennsylvania state capitol in April 2019.

Marybeth Christiansen, Pennsylvania state legislative lead for Moms Demand Action, led a rally last month at the capitol and reminded state legislators that two-thirds of gun deaths in the United States are suicides. An estimated 61 people take their lives each day in this country, and between 2013-17, 4,700 Pennsylvanians killed themselves with guns.

Every nine hours, someone with ready access to a gun uses it to commit suicide.

Keeping guns temporarily away from people who want to hurt themselves makes perfect sense, as does keeping them away from people who want to kill others.

Moms Demand Action is particularly concerned about mass shootings. Christiansen says 93 percent of school shooters exhibited warning signs that could have been detected.

The bill now before the state legislature “would disarm those at risk of mass shootings before they act,” the organization says. Pennsylvania is only the latest in a growing list of states that have decided to do something to prevent mass shootings and gun suicides. Colorado recently became the 15th state, in addition to Washington D.C., to pass legislations allowing authorities to take guns from people who are clearly dangerous.

FILE - In this May 4, 2018, file photo, people in the audience wait for the start of the National Rifle Association-Institute for Legislative Action Leadership Forum at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. The National Rifle Association is gathering for its 148th annual meeting beginning Thursday, April 25, 2019, in Indianapolis. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP, File)AP

And while the National Rifle Association opposes such legislation, many Republican and Democratic leaders are joining the call for reasonable restrictions on guns to provide sensible protections for us all.

Moms Demand Action says it respects the Second Amendment. The legislation the mothers are backing simply “is a tool to disarm those at risk of mass shootings before they act.”

Christiansen says the proposed legislation in Pennsylvania ensures due process and contains provisions to prevent abuse of the system. She says the states that have enacted similar laws are reporting a 10 percent reduction in suicide rates.

Gov. Tom Wolf supports the legislation, as do many Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who see this as an opportunity to save lives without infringing upon Second Amendment rights. We agree.

The mothers of Moms Demand Action have already proven to be a fierce force in getting legislation passed to take guns away from those guilty of domestic violence. They were able to get lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to see the common sense in keeping guns away from people who already have hurt people they’re supposed to love.

We support their efforts to work within the legal system to take guns away from those who present a clear and present danger to us all.

Here’s wishing Moms Demand Action a Happy Mother’s Day for doing what mothers do best – protecting those they love.