A strong advocate for gun violence prevention, Jeanne Kirkton has served as the Legislative Director of the St. Louis Million Mom March Chapter and on the board of Missourians Against Handgun Violence. She has worked tirelessly at the state and local levels against allowing concealed guns in Missouri – and is running this November for Missouri State Legislature.

Jeanne's education and professional training is as a nurse anesthetist. She administered anesthesia to and helped resuscitate more gunshot wound victims than she cares to remember. "By and large," Jeanne says, "it was needless violence. And while I retired from practice in 1992, one remains a nurse forever."

In 2000, when the Million Mom March was being planned for Washington, D.C., Jeanne Kirkton sought out others in St. Louis who wanted to be part of the day by organizing a local rally. Jeanne saw the event, and the Chapter that formed afterwards, as part of the movement for common sense gun laws to which she wanted to give her time and experience.

Jeanne worked with fellow activists and started heading to the state capitol to try and pass sensible gun laws in Missouri. She remembers being armed with data on gun deaths, accidents, suicides, safe storage laws, and the exact breakdown of the alarming costs of care for gun violence victims.

Under Jeanne's leadership, the St. Louis Million Mom March Chapter focus its fight on preventing the Missouri legislators from overturning a 1999 statewide vote of the people on carrying concealed weapons, known as Proposition B. In 2003, they lost that battle and joined the ranks of other states with CCW laws.

The Chapter has also fought over the years to get a safe storage gun law passed to protect children in Missouri. This, too, has been unsuccessful.

So, Jeanne decided that enough was enough. If they couldn't change their state senator's vote, then they would have to change their state senator. So, in 2004, Jeanne ran against the incumbent – who had cast the deciding vote that overturned the statewide CCW vote – and lost by a little over 5 percent.

Not deterred, Jeanne ran for her local city council in 2006 and won! And she now returns in 2008 to run for the Missouri state legislature, this time as a state representative.

Jeanne won her primary on August 5th and polls show her up for the November general election. You can learn more about Jeanne at her website www.jeannekirkton.com, including ways you can contribute to her campaign.