'I'm turning my pain into purpose'
Legislators, advocates call for gun safety measures during closing week of Souls Shot exhibit
Southeast Delegation September 29, 2026 | 4:14 PM
HARRISBURG, Sept. 29 — Standing alongside a powerful collection of portraits of gun-violence victims, legislators and advocates gathered in the state Capitol Monday to call for policies aimed at putting an end to the violence.
This week marks the closing of the Pennsylvania Capitol exhibition of the Souls Shot Portrait Project, which has been featured in the Capitol’s East Wing Rotunda throughout September. Started in Philadelphia in 2016, the art project memorializes gun-violence victims by pairing artists with grieving families to create a portrait of the victim.
Regina Jones, whose late daughter Isya Stanley is portrayed in the exhibit, said she came to the press conference as part of her mission of “turning my pain into purpose.”
“We have to speak up, we have to mentor our young people, we have to support the families that are affected by gun violence, and we have to teach our children that picking up a gun can change more than one life—it can destroy families and impact the entire community for generations,” Jones said.
This week’s news conference also coincided with the end of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and the one-year mark since the state House failed to pass three common-sense gun reform bills: House Bill 1859, House Bill 1866, and House Bill 1099.
State Rep. Jennifer O’Mara, D-Delaware, the prime sponsor of House Bill 1859, said, “In addition to turning pain into purpose, we’re going to turn pain into policy.”
O’Mara’s bill would allow family members or law enforcement to ask a judge to temporarily disarm someone who is in crisis and who is a threat to themselves or others. It would create a process for the judge to issue an Extreme Risk Protection Order, also known as a “red flag law.”
O’Mara recalled that she lost her father to gun suicide when she was 13 years old in 2003.
“I came to Harrisburg with one of my primary goals to pass meaningful legislation that would help prevent other people from dying from suicide from guns,” O’Mara said.
Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said “we’re getting really close” to having enough votes to passing the bills that failed last year. Exhibitions such as Souls Shot underscore why it’s important to keep fighting for legislation to end gun violence, Briggs said.
“It takes everyone involved,” Briggs said.
Adam Garber, executive director of CeaseFirePA, said “what we are talking about is saving lives.”
“We are talking about policies that will mean a suicide doesn’t happen because someone doesn’t have access to a firearm in their worst moment. We are talking about policies that say, ‘Be a responsible gun owner by securing your firearm.’ We are talking about policies that say no one should be able to turn a handgun into a machine gun that can cause devastation and fill a wall with these portraits,” Garber said.
Laura Madeleine, co-founder of the Souls Shot Portrait Project, said the project is intended to “illuminate the souls behind the daunting statistics” and encourage people to form new human connections to the issue of gun violence.
“Our hope is that our invitational rather than confrontational approach to the issue of gun violence will move viewers to take action in some way to work towards peace,” Madeleine said.
The full press conference can be viewed at this link.
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