NRA loses two federal court battles

The GVP Report - June 4, 2013
In The News ► The NRA lost two court battles this week.  A federal appeals court unanimously upheld an Obama administration requirement that gun dealers in Southwestern border states report when customers buy multiple assault rifles. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a Texas state law that forbids most people between 18 and 20 from obtaining permits to carry concealed handguns. The court held that the goal of "curbing gun violence by keeping handguns out of the hands of immature individuals" serves a public safety interest.  ► Three letters that contained poisonous ricin were sent to Mayor Bloomberg, the office of Mayors Against Illegal Gun and President Obama. The three letters read in part: "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. the right to bear arms is my constitutional God given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die"     ► A petition drive to overturn Maryland's new, tough gun laws has failed. Opponents of the law did not turn in an initial batch of signatures by the deadline at midnight on Friday. ► The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will launch an investigation into whether Stand Your Ground/Shoot First laws have a racial bias. The Commission will look to see if there is a bias in the assertion or the denial depending on the race of the victim and the race of the defendant. Recently two shooters in Alabama escaped liability because of the Shoot First law. ► A Governing Index survey has found strong support for universal background checks among state and local government officials.  But support of other measures tracks closely based on gun ownership among public officials. ► Newly obtained testimony from executives at firearms manufacturers show that gun makers saw no role in curbing improper sales.  An executive for Taurus International testified that "I don't even know what a gun trafficker is." ► Bryan Schatz, Mother Jones, attends a "build party" where anyone can make an AK-47 with untraceable parts. And it's all perfectly legal.   Although US customs laws ban importing the weapons, parts kits, which include original components, are legal. Community Support ► Frank Cerabina, Cox Newspapers, There are reasons no guns are allowed at Disney World - they're called kids. Recently, a man's licensed handgun fell out of his pants during a ride. Not knowing it was gone, he left it behind, where another patron found it. ► Mary Plouffe, Bangor, Maine, Bangor Daily News, If we changed the smoking culture, we can change the gun culture. In 50 years we have changed a cultural norm around smoking, the way we did it may offer lessons for changing the gun culture we now face. ► Claudette Konola, Citizen Telegram, Grand Junction, Colorado, Our national will survive gun regulation. We have a bunch of paranoid, treasonous men running around "open carrying" guns, and the NRA wants the response to gun violence to be focused on mental health. Am I the only one who sees the irony in that? ► Alec MacGillis, New Republic, This is How the NRA Ends: A bigger, richer, meaner gun control movement has arrived. The narrow defeat of the background-check bill, it turns out, was not the end of hopes for gun reform, but the beginning. ► Aaron Blake, Washington Post, Democrats still aren't being ruthless about gun control. Joe Baca, D-California, has an 'A' rating from the NRA, was unseated in November by another Democrat, is seeking a return to Congress in a neighboring district and is being supported by some Democratic members of the House who are also strong supporters of gun control. ► Matthew Parkete, The Daily Beast, The NRA is Wrong: The Myth of Illegal Guns. What if Jared Loughner had to go out into the streets and risk his life to obtain his weapon? It would have been an ordeal for him to buy illegal weapons simply because he was not immersed in lawlessness. ► Oprah and her panelists discuss What America's gun violence problem really says about fear. Underneath all of this in our society is an epidemic of fear and self-centeredness. And rather than dealing with the fear we get a gun. What the Gun Lobby is Doing ► Some of the U.S. Senators who voted to kill a background check bill are now trying to tell their constituents they actually support background checks.  Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) touted his co-sponsorship of an NRA-backed bill and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) put out a misleading pro-gun ad. ► Adam Kokesh has cancelled an armed march on Washington, D.C. Instead he is urging his supporters to bring down the entire federal government and called for gun activists to form a secessionist "army". ► In December, the NRA blamed mass shootings, in part, on Hollywood movies saying "Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?" But now the NRA has published a list of the 10 "coolest gun movies" ever praising, among other things, a movie hero who's an "almost unstoppable" "killing machine." ►Gun activists in Colorado turned in petition signatures to set up the first recall in state history. The effort is against Democratic Senate President John Morse in response to his support of a series of strong gun laws signed into law this year.		Blogs Josh Sugarmann, Violence Policy Center, Guns Kill More People Than Motor Vehicles in 12 States & DC Joan Peterson, Common GunSense, War on Women. Women are 500% more likely to die in a home with a gun than one without. Cathie Whittenburg, OhhShoot Blog. Woman playing golf hit by stray bullet. Advocacy ► Newtown Action Alliance is planning a day of activities on June 13th in Washington, D.C. to mark the six-month anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting.  ► New Yorkers Against Gun Violence joined Moms Demand Action to demonstrate against Senator Ted Cruz and denounce his stance against common sense gun laws. ► Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence joined gun violence survivors to deliver petitions to two Indiana Congresswomen calling on them to support background checks. ► Mayors Against Illegal Guns shifts its strategy to local politicians and takes the campaign for stricter gun laws to state capitals across the country. ► Rob Eshman reports on the recent Women Against Gun Violence event. Speakers included Tucson shooting survivor Daniel Hernandez. ► Tom Mauser, Colorado Ceasefire, speaks out against the Colorado sheriffs' lawsuit against new state gun laws. ► Brady Campaign, Ceasefire Oregon and Moms Demand Action hold an Art=Ammo flashmob in Portland.  TAKE ACTION #SixMonthsNoAction by Congress.  Join in sharing this message together at the same time - automatically.  Go to Thunderclap to sign up. Contact your members of Congress to let them know that six months and no action is too long to wait for stronger gun laws.  Worst of the Week 41-year-old Michael Melrose, of Orient, Ohio, shot and killed two people while robbing them of a number of guns. Melrose knew the couple, 62-year-old Eugenia Anderson and 68-year-old Harry Butler, had performed odd jobs for them and lived just a few houses away. Eugenia managed to call 911 during the robbery. Police arrived to find Melrose leaving the residence with an armful of long guns he had stolen. When deputies ordered him to drop the weapons, he pulled out a handgun and shot himself dead. Eugenia was found dead of gun shot wounds. Harry died en route to the hospital. Police said there were a variety of firearms in the home and that robbery appeared to be the motive for the murders.

This Fight Is Not Over

The GVP Report - May 21, 2013
In The News ► Despite the temporary defeat of the Manchin-Toomey bill in the Senate the fight to strengthen gun laws is not over.  The Senate is working to gain additional votes and the House is working on a companion bill authored by Rep. Pete King (R- N.Y.)  H.R. 1565 already has 176 cosponsors. Organizing for Action recently delivered 1.4 million signatures to Congress demanding action and stressing that We Will Not Back Down. The Center for American Progress details 9 reasons why progress on stronger gun laws is within reach. ► A California law passed in 2007 that requires all new semi-automatic handguns be equipped with microstamping technology is now in effect after years of delay.  New guns must stamp a bullet casing with a code identifying a gun's make, model and serial number whenever the gun is fire. ► Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley signed sweeping legislation strengthening Maryland's gun laws.  The new law requires anyone buying a handgun to submit fingerprints to obtain a license, limits gun magazines to 10 rounds, and bans 45 types of assault weapons. ► The US State Department told Cody Wilson to remove 3-D plastic gun blueprints from his website but not before the plans had been downloaded across the world. Now, policymakers are scrambling to catch up with this new frontier of gun control jurisdiction. ► MediaMatters, Conservative media misread Dept. of Justice report on fall of gun homicides, ignoring multiple factors that could account for the decrease. ► NPR All Things Considered reports on The Low-Tech Way Guns Get Traced. It involves lots of phone calls and often, manual labor. ► A new study by Stephen Teach, MD presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting finds that nearly one in five children and teens found to be at risk for suicide report that there are guns in their homes and 15 percent of these youth know how to access both the guns and the bullets. ► Guns obtained in a January gun buyback in Seattle, Washington will be melted down and turned into steel "bricks" that will be adorned with messages about gun violence penned by Seattle school children and placed throughout the city.  Seattle students in grades 1-12 can submit quotes to the Weapons to Words contest. Community Support ► Shell Shocked is a new documentary film that looks at violence and crime in New Orleans, the murder capital of the U.S..  The filmmakers look to activists, community leaders, police and the children who live in these violent circumstances for positive solutions to an extremely negative situation. ► James E. Causey, Milwaukee, WI Journal Sentinel, Are You Safer Owning a Gun for Home Protection?  Dr. Eric Fleegler, Harvard Medical School, told me I would be much safer if I didn't own a gun in a home invasion than if I did own a gun. I didn't believe him, so we went through a series of exercises. ► An important new book from Tom Diaz, formerly of the Violence Policy Center, The Last Gun: How Changes in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans and What Will It Take to Stop It.  Read what one book reviewer has to say.  ► Amy Showalter, Forbes.com, Five Reasons the NRA Won the Recent Gun Control Debate That Have Nothing to do with Politics. There are lessons we can learn from the recent battle on background checks. ► Charles Simic, New York Review of Books, Shooting Our Way to Safety. Following on the premise that the more guns a person owns, the safer he and his family are going to be, the nation Wayne LaPierre and his supporters envision is one in which law enforcement would be supplanted by vigilantes in our communities. ► Robert Wielkopolski, New Jersey Star Ledger, Why Does the NRA Fear Facts? As a magistrate in Alaska for 32 years, I saw firsthand that choice of weapon often influenced body count. Yet the NRA blocks knowledge that could reduce gun deaths like the auto industry tried to silence Ralph Nader. ► Arkadi Gerney, The New Yorker, Guns and My Mother. For five years, I managed Mayors Against Illegal Guns, but I never told anyone - not the people I worked with every day, or the victims I convinced to go on camera to share their stories - how my own life was changed by a gun. ► Snoop Lion (AKA Snoop Dogg) has launched a design contest in conjunction with his new single, No Guns Allowed. "The song is a call to action for people everywhere to come together and help end the senseless gun violence that claims lives every day." What the Gun Lobby is Doing ► Adam Kokesh hopes to lead 1,000 protesters armed with guns in Washington, D.C. on the 4th of July. Kokesh compares himself to Mahatma Gandhi.  He also calls D.C. chief of police a "criminal" for reminding Kokesh that under D.C. law it is illegal to carry a gun openly or concealed. ► A vendor at the NRA's annual convention sold a target, called "the ex" of an ex-girlfriend that bleeds when you shoot it. The company, Zombie Industries, markets itself as the maker of "life-sized tactical mannequin targets" that you shoot directly at. ► Christina Wilkie & Nick Wing, This is what happens when the gun industry sees kids as customers, looks at the various ways the gun industry and the NRA market to children. ► The NRA has sent out mailers in Colorado urging people to sign a petition to recall Democratic state Senate president John Morse after the state recently strengthen gun laws. "They're just testing here to see if they can take out the Senate president and make a statement, a statement that says: 'Don't ever be a leader and be for sensible reforms,'" Morse said. "And they're targeting me because I'm in a swing district, surrounded by conservative ideologues."		Blogs Josh Horwitz, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, The NRA's Perverted View of America Joan Peterson, Common GunSense, Taking Sides on the Gun Issue? Sidney Burris, Gun Sense, Seven Arkansas Institutes of Higher Education Say "No" to Concealed Carry Josh Sugarmann, Violence Policy Center, NRA Meets in Houston to Promote Gun Industry's 'Latest and Greatest Products' Cathie Whittenburg, OhhShoot Blog, Gun discharges when woman drops her purse, shoots her friend in the leg. Advocacy ► Lawrence O'Donnell, The Last Work, featured States United to Prevent Gun Violence's new public service announcement in the Rewrite section.   ► Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA, op-ed Keep Gun Violence from Marring Next Mother's Day. ► Ceasefire New Jersey and Art=Ammo held a flash mob in Newark to urge support for bills to strengthen gun laws currently before the NJ legislature. ► Heeding God's Call held a prayer vigil for 25-year-old Robert Diggs, the eighth homicide victim this year in Harrisburg, PA.  Diggs was shot and killed when a confrontation boiled over during a party in his apartment. ► The Brady Campaign has filed suit against a north George town that recently passed a law requiring all residents own a gun. The suit cotends that the Second Amendment doesn't require anyone to have a gun and government cannot require citizens to arm themselves.  ► Project for Safer Communities New Hampshire and Granite State Progress held a news conference to criticize Sen. Kelly Ayotte for her vote against the Senate bill to strengthen background checks. ► Moms Demand Action held events across the nation to honor Mother's Day and urge support of the Mother's Bill of Rights. ► Washington Ceasefire is running ads on King County Metro buses asking people to "Think twice about having a gun in your home." The ads were rejected by Community Transit due to a new policy barring political advertisements. Take Action ► Is your House Representative a cosponsor of HR 1565, the bill to expand background checks?  Mayors Against Illegal Guns makes it easy for you to find out and then to contact them. ► The GVP Report is the only publication that offers a consistent, comprehensive, inclusive look at the gun violence issue in this country. Won't you make a donation today in support? Worst of the Week A gunman opened fire at a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans, injuring 19 people. Ten men, seven women and two children were injured in the shooting. The children suffered graze wounds. Other injuries ranged from minor to severe.  Police have arrested two brothers with gang ties in connection with the shooting. Columnist David Dennis asks Why isn't New Orleans Mother's Day parade shooting a 'national tragedy'?

A gun is far more likely to be stolen than used in self-defense

The GVP Report - April 16 , 2013
In The News ► A Violence Policy Center study finds Guns are Rarely Used to Kill Criminals or Stop Crimes.  In fact, a gun is far more likely to be stolen than used in self-defense.  Read the full report here. ► Francine Wheeler, mother to 6-year-old Ben who was killed at Sandy Hook, delivered the Weekly Address for President Obama,  urging people to "please help us do something before our tragedy becomes your tragedy. " Also watch the 60 Minutes interview with the Newtown families. ► Politico looks at Gun control - one vote down, many more to come, and what is likely to happen in the Senate as they begin debate on gun violence prevention legislation. ► ThinkProgress, Guide to the Myths and Misinformation Surrounding Background Checks. ► U.S. Supreme Court declines to challenge New York gun law.  The court declined to consider the appeal of a case challenging New York's law that residents must establish "proper cause" for obtaining a concealed weapons permit, leaving the requirement in place. ► Montana Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed a bill that would have allowed people to carry concealed weapons without first having to obtain a permit.  ►  ABC News, CDC Ban on Gun Research Caused Lasting Damage. New research will take years to conduct and require a labor force that no longer exists. Only 12 or 15 people in the whole country are still researching gun violence. ► How Gun Violence Has Shaped Lives.  Oregon Public Broadcasting looks at three lives forever changed by guns. Reporter David Peisner revisits The Ghosts of Jonesboro: Fifteen years After a School Shooting, a Small Town is Still Recovering. CNN interviews Gabby Giffords and finds that while she describes herself as "Stronger, better, tougher", she will never be the same. ► Center for American Progress, America Under the Gun, finds that many of the states with the weakest gun laws also have the highest levels of gun violence.  Where does your state stand on this 50-state analysis of gun violence? Read the full report here. Community Support ► Stephen Colbert reports on howNorth Korea, Iran, Syria and the NRA, what he is calling the Axis of Freedom, are all opposed to the U.N. Small Arms Treaty. ► National Journal, Explaining the Gender Gap on Gun Control.  Most women support strengthening guns laws, compared with fewer than half of men. 65 percent of women favor stronger gun laws, compared to 44 percent of men. ► Maureen Dowd, Chris Murphy's Crucible, takes a look at the junior senator from Connecticut who has been thrust to the forefront of the Sisyphean battle for gun safety. ► CNN Report, Guns and Suicide: One mother's heartbreaking tale. Dorothy Paugh lost her father to suicide by a a gun 50 years ago, and one year ago, she lost her son in the same way. ► Michael Tomasky, The Gun Lobby's Dumbest Argument.  Of course new gun laws won't stop all violence, but this argument shows total ignorance about the reasons that we make laws in the first place. ► Dennis Bailey, When a Politician Embraced Gun Control - and Won.  A 1990 Maine congressional race proved that a politician in a fiercely pro-gun state can stand up to the NRA and win. ► Tom Diaz, How the Gun is Killing Americans. Excerpts from Diaz' book The Last Gun: How changes in the Gun Industry are Killing Americans and What it Will Take to Stop It. ► Adam Gopnik, The Cultural Fight for Guns. The new argument for keeping as many guns as possible in the hands of as many people as possible tend to be broadly fatalistic and something sniffily "cultural." What the Gun Lobby is Doing ► Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the second-largest gun rights organization in the country, is urging support for the compromise gun sale criminal background checks bill drafted by Sens. Manchin and Toomey.  The move is a break with the NRA. ► The Boston Globe, To his base, NRA's LaPierre is a 'guy who will never fold.' Supporters see LaPierre as a steadfast Second Amendment purist. Critics see him as a paranoid figure. ► MediaMatters, Authors of NRA's School Safety Report sell security gear and training.  5 of the 13 members of the taskforce who produced the report that calls for an increase in armed school personnel work for a company that sells products to private security and law enforcement. ► Mother Jones, Inside the NRA's Koch-funded dark-money campaign.  How the NRA sold its grassroots firepower to the Kochs, Karl Rove, and conservative donors.		Blogs Joan Peterson, Common GunSense, These Senators Voted Against Common Sense Gun Laws Arthur Kamm, Art on Issues, In Defense of the Assault Weapons Ban Josh Sugarmann, Violence Policy Center, NRA School Plan: Arm Teachers, Turn Schools into Prisons, and Never Mention Guns Cathie Whittenburg, OhhShoot Blog, College apartment security guard unintentionally fires gun, injures student on other side of wall. Advocacy ► States United to Prevent Gun Violence launched a gun violence prevention television/web PSA urging stronger gun laws. ► "NoMoreNames" vigil planned until Senate passes bill. Brady Campaign, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Moms Demand Action and others will be reading the names of those killed by guns since Newtown. ► Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence and others rallied to support strengthening federal gun laws. Police Chief Michael Sauschuck talks about a gun used in a homicide that "was sold from the original owner like it was a lawn sale. No documentation, nothing." ► Arizonans for Gun Safety joined Organizing for Action, survivors and those who lost their loved ones to gun violence to pay tribute and remember the victims. ► Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence joined with Progress Ohio in calling for Congress to act on background checks. The group stood near an impromptu memorial for a 29-year-old woman shot by her former boyfriend as she fled from him. ► Mayors Against Illegal Guns will unveil a scoring system to award lawmakers grades of A through F, much like the NRA. Grades will be based on lawmakers votes and statements on gun issues. ► Ceasefire Oregon, Moms Demand Action and the Brady Campaign held a "Day of Action at the Capitol" in Salem in support of four gun violence prevention bills before the Legislature. ► Ceasefire New Jersey and Moms Demand Action joined others to mark the 4 month anniversary of the Newtown shooting. They displayed 68 empty pair of shoes, symbolizing those killed by gun violence in New Jersey since the Newtown shooting. ► Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort held a Silent No More rally in Milwaukee in support of universal background checks. Take Action Keep calling your Senators and tell them to support S. 649, the comprehensive gun reform package. Text MYVOICE to 877877 and urge your Senators to vote YES. Worst of the Week 25 people were shot and 4 killed in Chicago over the weekend. The unrelenting shootings occurred as protestors gathered in Chicago's Federal Plaza to hold a vigil to end gun violence. A 28-year-old man was fatally shot Saturday afternoon. Two 19-year-old men were shot and killed early Saturday morning and a 34-year-old man was fatally shot Saturday night. The shootings spanned the entire weekend. On Sunday, there were shootings just 30 minutes apart that left four people in critical condition.

What does the public really think about guns?

The GVP Report - April 2, 2013
In The News ► A Center for American Progress issue brief finds a clear consensus around a variety of common-sense gun laws. And finds Americans believe responsible law-abiding citizens have a right to own guns but much more needs to be done to keep dangerous guns from the wrong hands. Pollsters too often present these two as opposing ideas, but the vast majority of Americans view these concepts as consistent and complementary. ► As part of the National Day to Demand Action President Obama met with gun violence survivors. "Less than 100 days ago Newtown happened and the entire country was shocked. And the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that this time would be different. Shame on us if we're forgotten. I haven't forgotten those kids." ► Connecticut Democratic and Republican state legislators worked to put together the strongest and most comprehensive gun violence prevention bill in the U.S.  It will be voted on this week and is expected to easily pass.  ► Dr. David Grimes, Guns Don't Offer Protection - Whatever the NRA Says, finds that the insistence that guns protect people from rape and violence is not rooted in scientific reality.  ► Search warrants show that Newtown shooter Adam Lanza had assembled an arsenal of guns, knives and ammunition.   ► A new study from Cleveland State University, Adding Up The "Butcher's Bill": The Public Health Consequences of America's System of Gun Regulation, finds that nearly one million people in the United States were shot from 2001 to 2010. ► A New Orleans judge ruled that after the recently passed Louisiana constitutional amendment the state statute forbidding felons from possessing firearms is now unconstitutional. The 2012 amendment change said gun ownership is a fundamental right and laws must approach it with "strict scrutiny", the highest level of judicial scrutiny. ► A federal appeals court overturned a lower court ruling and upheld Maryland's tough restrictions on carrying hidden loaded handguns in public places. ► A Washington Post analysis of CDC data finds a white person is five times as likely to commit suicide with a gun as to be shot with a gun while for each African American who uses a gun to commit suicide, five are killed by other people with guns. Community Support ► Carrie Lendroth Battaglia, Newtown Action Alliance,  Letter from Sandy Hook Mom.  We are furious. Furious that 26 families must suffer with grief so deep and so wide that it is unimaginable. Furious that common sense has gone out the window. Furious that lawmakers are too scared to take a stand. ► Charlotte & Harriet Childress, Philly.com,Mass Murders a White-Male, not Mental-Health, Issue. Nearly all the mass shootings in this country in recent years have been committed by white men and boys. Unlike other groups, white men are not used to being singled out. ► Marilyn Sewell, Changing the Gun Culture, Cultural change takes time, but we can begin with the rule of law, the way we ended slavery, the way we gave women the right to vote, the way we integrated public schools. Let sensible laws lead the way. Changes in consciousness will follow. ► Mark Follman, USA Today, NRA's Gun-Free Zone Myth. Not only is there zero evidence to support the claim that most mass killings take place in gun-free zones, an examination of shootings indicates the NRA is just plain wrong. ► Peter Houlahan, The Right to Life vs. the Right to Bear Arms. I was in the third  EMT crew to arrive at Sandy Hook. We did not treat or transport a single patient. To have had all children and adults still in the buliding "pronounced" on-scene with zero transported is almost unimaginable. ► Joe Nocera, New York Times,Saving Children From Guns. Why can't we childproof guns? In an age of technological wizardry why can't we come up with a gun that wouldn't shoot when being held by a child? Or a thief? Or an angry teenager? Turns out, we can. ► Zerlina Maxwell, Ebony, Why Doesn't America Care About Dead Children? The reaction to Newtown was appropriate and yet also highlights the lack of response to the almost daily incidents of gun violence in inner city communities like Chicago.  ► Jon Stewart of the Daily Show returns from vacation and checks in on one of the top items on the legislative agenda - gun violence prevention. And also sends his staff to check in with Ladd Everitt of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. What the Gun Lobby is Doing ► The Armed Citizen Project will be giving away shotguns to single women and homeowners in crime-ridden neighborhoods in Tucson, Arizona and other cities across the U.S.  ► Protesters armed with loaded assault rifles showed up to counter a rally being held in Indianapolis by Moms Demand Action as part of the "National Day to Demand Action." ► Media Matters looks at How the NRA Frustrates Enforcement of Federal Gun Laws by weakening the ATF. ► The NRA sent pro-gun robocalls to households in Newtown, Connecticut.  "I received one of these," said a Newtown resident. "I was insulted and offended."		Blogs Arthur Kamm, Art on Issues, Selection of the AR-15 Rifle in Premeditated Indiscriminate Mass Shootings. Joan Peterson, Common GunSense, To Shoot or Not To Shoot, That is the Question. Griffin Dix, Million Mom March, Gun Lobby Whistleblower Warns Against Dancing with the Devil. Bullet Counter Points, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Mass Shootings by "Good Guys" Cathie Whittenburg, OhhShoot Blog, A look at some unintentional shootings caused by dogs. Advocacy ► Eileen McCarron, Colorado Ceasefire, looks on as Gov. Hickenlooper signs three gun violence prevention bills. ► Steve Gunn, Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, applauds Gov. Herbert's veto of a bill that would have allowed people to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. ► Iowans for Gun Safety marched from downtown Des Moines to the Iowa Capitol, calling for common-sense reforms to federal gun laws. ► New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, the Brady Campaign and Moms Demand Action joined singer Tony Bennett and others in support of the NY SAFE Act. ► Violence Policy Center March update - Examples of non-self defense deaths involving persons legally allowed to carry concealed handguns hits 508. ► Newtown parents take part in new ad from Mayors Against Illegal Guns calling for tougher gun laws. The ad is part of Mayor Bloomberg's $12 million ad buy targeting swing state senators. ► Arizonans for Gun Safety receives an anonymous $100,000 donation to run a gun buyback event in Phoenix. ► The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus thanks everyone who worked to stop a bill to allow firearms on Georgia state university campuses. TAKE ACTION S. 649: Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013, the comprehensive gun reform package that includes universal background checks, will soon be debated in the Senate. Call your Senator and tell them to support S. 649 and an assault weapons ban amendment.  1-202-224-3121 Send your Senators Tweets using the hashtags #KidsNotGuns and #SafeSchools Worst of the Week Kaufman, Texas County District Attorney Mike McLellland and his wife, Cynthia, were found shot to death in their home on Saturday. In January, Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasses was shot to death in a parking lot near his office. Since then, McLelland said he carried a gun everywhere he went and took extra care when answering the door at home. Law enforcement sources say the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a white supremacist group, are top suspects in both assassinations.

34 Years Later Gun Killing Still Echoes

Every year in this country over 30,000 lives are ended by a gun. Some choose to take their own lives, others are ended without permission. Each of these individuals leaves behind family and friends whose heartache lasts for years.

Michael Daly writes about one such family in his article 34 Years Later, Gunshots Still Echo From a Senseless Killing.

The article looks at how the family of Michael Russell reacts when Michael's killer applies for parole. 34 years after his death, Michael's daughter Jessica writes:

As I watch my daughter crawl into our bed in the mornings and lie with her dad, I am once again reminded of what I missed out on as a child. As I watch her get ready for the Girl Scout Father-Daughter dance, I feel the void, the emptiness, the sadness, that I have felt my entire life, rush over me again. As I take my son to the baseball fired, I think of my father on his last day alive.

Go here to read this powerful article.

Which kills more people in your state - cars or guns?

Mother Jones asks the question "Which kills more people in your state - cars or guns?" The investigation was in response to an article that predicted by the year 2015 guns would kill more Americans than traffic accidents.
Mother Jones found that in a number of states, guns deaths already outnumber traffic deaths.
Check it out.

Crucial Period for Gun Violence Prevention Bills

The GVP Report - March 19, 2013
In The News ► Four gun violence prevention bills have been approved by the U.S. Senate Judicial Committee and now head to the full Senate, including an Assault Weapons Ban, Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act, and Fix Gun Checks. The next few weeks will be a critical period in moving legislation forward. ► Three gun violence prevention bills, including universal background checks and a magazine capacity limit  are sitting on the Colorado governor's desk.  Gov. Hickenlooper is expected to sign the bills into law this week. ► Rachel Maddow reports new details of the Newtown gun massacre, noting the entire incident took less than five minutes during which Lanza fired 152 bullets. At one point, either the gun jammed or he had trouble reloading, allowing six children to escape. ► The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, appointed by CT Gov. Malloy, has issued 42 recommendations including a ban on long guns and handguns that can fire more than 10 bullets without reloading, mandatory background checks and mandatory gun registration. ► New polls released by Mayors Against Illegal Guns show  overwhelming support for background checks. A McClatchy-Marist poll finds a majority of Americans support an assault weapons ban. ►Legislators across the country who support strengthening gun laws continue to receive threatening and hostile emails and calls. Notes a West Virginia legislator, "These people are so quick to burn you at the stake."   ► A national survey shows that the number of American households with guns has declined over the past four decades. While household ownership among elderly has remained virtually unchanged from the 1970s gun ownership among young Americans has plummeted. ► Washington Post details how NRA money helped changed the idea that the Second Amendment was an individual right to possess a gun from a wacky notion to one endorsed by the  Supreme Court. ► Minneapolis StarTribune investigative report: A Gun at 14, Then a Senseless Killing. Two young lives are swept away in Minnesota by the relentless flow of illegal firearms. ► New York Times looks at how In Some States, Gun Rights Trump Orders of Protection and how the NRA fights measures to take guns away from individuals subject to a protection from abuse order. Community Support ►Danny Westneat, Seattle Times, Bill's Defeat a Case Study on Guns. Looks at how a legislator withdrew her support for universal background checks. "Listen to her quote. It means game over. Nothing will help. Nothing can ever change. No matter the quality of facts presented, or quantities of blood spilled, nothing is what we intend to do." ► The Sandy Hook Ride on Washington, a team of 26 cyclists who rode 400 miles from Newtown to D.C., were greeted in D.C. with the news that the Senate committee had approved universal background checks. ► Michael Moore, America, You Must Not Look Away, asks, "if we were to seriously look at the 20 slaughtered children - I mean really look at them, with their bodies blow apart, many of them so unrecognizable the only way their parents could identify them was by the clothes they were wearing - what would be our excuse not to act? Now. Right now." ► Rex Berry, TulsaWorld, Oklahoma, Should We Sacrifice Children for the Sake of Guns? What is our priority, our children or the absolutist's abstract (and profitable) view of the Second Amendment? ► Comilla Sasson, Denver Post, Aurora Theater Shooting Doctor: I'm Tired of Treating Gun Wounds. I asked my colleagues around the world how many gunshot wound victims they had seen in their careers. The answer: two. Five in a night can be par for the course in my line of work. ► Washington Post Magazine asks What's Your Number? How many people do you know who have been shot? It's surprising how many people know someone who has been shot.  Or is it? What the Gun Lobby is Doing ► Measures to make four formerly temporary gun rights provisions permanent have been put into a Senate spending bill that would keep the government running through September.  ► A reception and dinner for the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, which has more than 250 members in the House and Senate, was funded in part by the NRA and the trade group for the gun industry. ► Meet the Hedge Fund Managers who are turning a profit on the Sandy Hook Massacre and the 34 corporations that help inflate the NRA's membership. ► Protestors armed with signs as well as military-style assault weapons swarmed the state capitol in Olympia, Washington to protest a universal background check bill. ► The gun rights group Basic Freedom Defense Fund has launched a recall effort against the President of the Colorado State Senate and at least two other legislators for their support of several gun violence prevention bills.		Blogs Baldr Odinson, Ceasefire Oregon,  Gun Sales Boom, But Who's Buying? Mikeb302000, Illinois Pastor Holds 'Second Amendment Sunday,' Encourages Kids to Make 'assault pop-tarts' Joan Peterson, Common GunSense, Common Sense is Breaking Out, coming to the U.S. Capitol and state houses all over the country. Cathie Whittenburg, OhhShoot Blog, Man carrying concealed handgun unintentionally shoots wife in restaurant. Advocacy ► Lori Haas, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, joins MomsRising to deliver a petition with over 150,000 signatures to the NRA headquarters but they were turned away by armed security. ► CT Against Gun Violence holds lobbying day at the State House in Hartford to push their package of gun violence prevention bills. ► Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence held Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath Weekend that included a gathering of religious leaders from across the country who met at the National Cathedral. ► Mayors Against Illegal Guns finds that 98.4% of Americans live within 10 miles of a gun dealer. How many gun dealers are there in your state? ► Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah joins with others to ask Utah governor to veto a bill that would allow concealed weapons to be carried without a permit.  ► Brady Center, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns took part in a panel discussion on gun violence in Arlington, VA. Gun rights supporters responded with jeers and shouts. ► Ceasefire Oregon held Rally for Gun Violence Prevention in Eugene, Oregon. The program included music and speakers. Take Action Call your Senators today and tell them to support the assault weapons ban, universal background checks, and stronger gun trafficking laws. Need some help with the call? Go to Americans for Responsible Solutions for a script and to get connected. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 1-202-224-3121 or visit www.senate.gov to find more contact information.  Worst of the Week 19-year-old Craig Wilson has been charged in connection with a drive-by shooting that injured 13 people in Washington, D.C. Gun shots came from two cars and wounded seven men and six women. One person remains in critical condition. Wilson is on probation and a GPS ankle bracelet tracked him to the shooting location.