A few weeks ago, two women were killed at a shooting at a theater showing “Trainwreck.” Since the shooting, Amy Schumer, the movie’s writer and star, has been nothing but supportive toward the shooting victims.

Earlier this week, Schumer called a press conference with cousin Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) to discuss the shooting, and to talk about an important topic: gun control. Watch the emotional video below (and thanks to Attn: for the tip).

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A slew of new viral ads celebrate girls and get creative about sending important messages.

Call it the tampon that launched a thousand ads, but it seems like since HelloFlo’s period party took over the internet in June, more and more ads that are genuinely worth watching have gone viral.

#LikeAGirl

We’ve all heard the taunt, “You throw like a girl,” and we all understand it to mean we’re bad at throwing things. Always (are periods having a moment?) recently released this ad along with the #LikeAGirl campaign to much applause.

The most effective part about this ad is seeing older girls and boys acting out commands to run and throw “like a girl” in stark contrast to the young girls acting out the same movements. These are girls that society has yet to suck the life out of. It’s refreshing to see them and easy to forget that we were all that self-confident back in the day.

Yes, it’s an ad for environmentally crappy feminine hygiene products—and let’s not forget the message inherent to many period-related items: We smell bad and need to cover up that lady stench with scented pink products.

But with the world seemingly out to destroy women at every turn this week, I’ll put this one in the win column.

Toy Story: The Vibrator Ad

Personally, I love this PSA about gun control. Check it out:

Great, right? Yes, but as Keli Goff writes in The Daily Beast, of course I love it. She makes a great point that this appeals to those of us who probably already support gun control—as it turns out, most right wing conservatives don’t think vibrators are funny. Who knew?

Regardless, I still like this one and I do think it makes an important point in a unique an interesting way.

Inspire Her Mind: Girls in STEM

The winning girl-power ad of the year so far? “Inspire Her Mind” from Sheryl Sandberg and the Makers team along with Verizon.

Say what you will about the polarizing work of Makers—and I have said some stuff myself— but this ad brilliantly combines statistics, powerful imagery, messages to parents and hits all of the right notes.

That Happened is Libby Lowe’s weekly column for EcoSalon analyzing media, news and pop culture through a feminist lens. Keep in touch with Libby @LibbyLowe.

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Is it easier to buy a gun or a bunch of carrots? 

When it comes to food we often talk about the necessity of access; those that don’t have easy access to healthy food don’t consume it. 23.5 million Americans don’t have a supermarket within one mile of their home. What do they have? Guns.

According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, there are 129,817 federally licensed firearms dealers in the United States. That’s more than three times the amount of grocery stores in the U.S. (36,569), meaning that simply factoring in the numbers, it’s easier to get a hold of a handgun than a bag of spinach.

Hunger is a serious issue; in 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure household (in the same year about 5.4 million new firearms were manufactured in the U.S.). Access to food alone won’t change that statistic, poverty has a lot to do with it, but we have to start somewhere, and in a world where a gun shop might be closer than a market, it’s time to question our priorities.

Which raises a good question to ponder: what kind of a society we would have if instead of food deserts we had gun deserts?

Image: Emily Stanchfield

The post An Issue of Access: The U.S. Has Three Times as Many Gun Dealers as Grocery Stores appeared first on EcoSalon.