Our family just returned from a vacation that placed us in Philadelphia on the Fourth of July. In all of America there is no better place from which to celebrate our independence.

If you can, take your children to this most fabulous historical wonderland. My hope is that my children never forget being in the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed, where the first peaceful transfer of power occurred from Washington to Adams, where Kentucky became a state, and where Congress held debates and passed bills for the first ten years of our early life as a country.

Being there in the exact place these monumental events occurred was powerful. Shivers-up-your-spine kind of powerful. The Founders desire to do something special was guided by this belief.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights among which are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

So noble. So righteous.

Have we always succeeded in this principle? No, not hardly. There are many moments that feel so far from this in my journey to keep us safe from gun violence as the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Whitney/Strong. Even more for our friends that still feel this principle of equality is not within their reach.

Still, I stand by this revolutionary declaration and what it sought to provide. My commitment to ensuring these rights are available to all, the least of which is a country not plagued by gun violence, is still fully intact.

For we do not have access to life if it is senselessly stripped from us by a bullet. For we do not have freedom if we must regularly fear gun violence in public places. And the pursuit of happiness? Well, it seems irrelevant to a country burdened by the epidemic of gun violence.

Visiting Philadelphia was special. This country is still special, but gun violence threatens that. I will continue to work and pray every day that change will come, with your help. Our children deserve it.