I live in Texas. In the last few weeks alone, this was a sampling of our headlines:

At least 26 dead after worst mass shooting in Texas history at San Antonio-area church

8 dead, 1 wounded in shooting at Plano home

Four wounded as shooter fired from car in North Austin at random targets, police say

Meanwhile, we have politicians who can’t get enough of pandering to the National Rifle Association. Take our Governor, Greg Abbott (no, seriously, will you please take him?) who tweeted in 2015: “I’m EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let’s pick up the pace Texans.” Of course, he made sure to tag the NRA.

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Let’s be clear about what’s going on here. These headlines, these senseless killings, are about people using guns to kill people and therefore, this is a “guns situation” (as President Trump denied in reference to the recent shooting at the small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas). And because the majority of mass shooting incidents — at least 54 percent — in the United States involve domestic violence, it’s a “violence against women situation” as well. (And that doesn’t even count the mass shooters who have committed acts of domestic violence in the past and then later go on to shoot and kill people who are not in their domestic circle, as was the case in Sutherland Springs.)

My first real political controversy came when, as a member of the Fort Worth City Council back in the late 1990s, I decided to take on the issue of background checks at gun shows in city facilities. I will never forget walking in from the rear entrance of the council chamber to find myself facing off against a standing-room-only crowd of mostly older, white, and very angry men. Little did I know that that moment was, in reality, my first outward act of feminism. I didn’t think of it in those terms at all. I just knew that I was a woman and I had just pissed off what seemed like the entire city of white men.

While gun safety may not seem like a feminist issue at first blush, it doesn’t take too much digging to see that women are uniquely vulnerable to and disproportionately the victims of gun violence. As former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (herself a survivor of gun violence) has eloquently said: “Dangerous people with guns are a threat to women. Criminals with guns. Abusers with guns. Stalkers with guns. That makes gun violence a women’s issue. For mothers, for families, for me and you.”

Americans know this. That's why the majority of Americans support common-sense gun safety measures like universal background checks and a ban on rapid-fire assault weapons. But how will we ever manage to adopt those policy reforms with all those NRA shills in office?

A wise lawmaker once said to me, “Change happens when mama bear gets mad.” Well, in the face of repeated mass shootings around the country and the human carnage left in their wake, mama bear is fire-engine-red mad right now. And she’s not backing down. Women are leading the fight for common sense gun safety reforms across this country – from Moms Demand Action to Gabby Giffords’ Americans for Responsible Solutions to women voting their conscience at the ballot box.

The elections this week offer a perfect example. Propelled by the determined work of Moms Demand Action, Virginia and New Jersey voters just kicked a whole string of NRA-ass-kissing elected officials out of office and replaced them with governors and legislative members who are committed to common-sense gun-safety measures. Notably, Chris Hurst, whose girlfriend Alison Parker was shot and killed on live TV in 2015, won a seat in Virginia's House of Delegates after running on a strongly gun-control-based platform. Exit polls in Virginia showed that health care and gun safety were the two top of mind issues motivating voters' decisions.

Candidates supported by Moms Demand Action also won races in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and in Washington state, where women volunteers spent countless hours knocking on doors and making calls according to a press release sent out by Moms Demand Action following the election. Each of these wins could mean the difference in that state’s ability to enact common-sense reforms. “Make no mistake,” Moms Demand Action proclaimed, “heading into the 2018 midterm elections, the momentum is on the side of the gun violence prevention movement.”

Not only do I hope they’re right, I believe it to my core. Because if there’s one thing I have learned in my years of public service, the power of a woman determined to change things is insurmountable. Remember that every time you think your one little voice can’t possibly make a difference. My money’s on you.

Wendy Davis is a former Texas State Senator and the founder of the activism organization Deeds Not Words. Follow her on Twitter.