The GVP Report - October 30, 2012 |
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► A new report from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America, examines policies and initiatives for reducing gun violence. "When you deny high-risk people access to guns, the evidence shows that saves lives," said lead author Daniel Webster. "And when you regulate all gun sales, fewer guns get diverted to criminals." ► Michigan police are searching for a gunman linked to 24 shootings in 4 counties, most occurring near Interstate 96. A motorist was wounded Saturday when a bullet came through the driver's side door and struck him in the left hip. ► ► Thousands Gather to Mourn Slain Nassau County Cop Arthur Lopez. The 29-year-old officer was gun downed by an ex-con during a traffic stop after a hit-and-run accident. ► New York Times, Unarmed and Gunned Down by Homeowner in His 'Castle', looks at the Montana shooting death of Dan Fredenberg. Brice Harper was not prosecuted due to the state's Castle Doctrine law. Self-defense or a way to kill without consequences? ► The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas has ruled that the U.S. may ban gun dealers from selling handguns to people under age 21. The unanimous decision noted that "Congress was focused on a particular problem: young persons under 21, who are immature and prone to violence, easily accessing handguns."
► Jessica Pieklo, Care2.com,It's Open Season on Women, Thanks to the NRA. Sensible gun control is a feminist issue and the lack of any real controls on firearms in this country poses a very real and dangerous threat to our health and safety. ► Nasty Jack, NRA Attacks Barack Obama on Gun Control...So Who Cares Anymore. The NRA's presence and influence have been severely compromised in the way gun violence has taken over the country in the last year. 2013 is the year for gun control advocates. ► ► American Academy of Pediatrics Renews Commitment to Preventing Gun Injuries in Children. The AAP is renewing its call to reduce the destructive effects of guns in the lives of children, including counseling parents about safe gun storage and supporting legislation. Read the AAP policy statement "Firearm-Related Injuries Affecting the Pediatric Populations." ► Alexis Rhiannon, Madonna Brings a Gun Onto a Colorado Stage, Has Officially Lost Her Mind. Come on, Madonna. Maybe it's time to sell off some of your robo-parts and buy some compassion and humility at auction. ► Cyrus Vance, Manhattan District Attorney, Gun Trafficking: A Taboo Subject in Our State and National Politics. Every child, on every block of every neighborhood, has the right to walk to school and home without fear of getting shot. And yet, the subject of gun law reform remains taboo for many of our state and national elected officials.
► Georgia Store Offers Gun Raffle Tickets to Voters. Bring in your "I voted" sticker to Adventure Outdoors to enter a raffle for a Glock handgun or Browning rifle. The secretary of state's office warned the store that offering the raffle only to people who voted may be violating the law. ► NRA Steps Up Attacks on Obama After Gun Control Comment. After President Obama said he would like to see the assault weapons ban reintroduced, an ominous new ad began airing in swing states saying Obama is chipping away at people's right to bear arms. ► Basic Cable's Ballistic Endgame: Ted Nugent, Discovery, and the Rise of Anti-Science TV. The Discovery channel's transformation into the NRA Network is a harrowing example of "network decay." Discovery isn't the only channel to be subject to this critique, but the arrival of Ted Nugent on their roster is a new low suggestive of just how much more socially destructive television can become. |
►Stephen Barton, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Candidates' Deafening Silence on Gun Violence. If we can't talk about guns after one of our country's worst mass shootings, when can we? ►Shira Goodman, CeasefirePA, Time To Get Tough on Straw Purchasers of Guns. The gun used to kill police officer Bradley Fox was one of nine guns allegedly bought by a straw purchaser for a man who had a felony record. ►The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence's forum, Truthtelling: The Media's Role in the Conversation on Guns asked if the media is doing a good, or even adequate, job of covering gun violence. ►The Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah planted daffodils in remembrance of gun violence victims. This is the tenth year they have planted daffodils in Utah.
45-year-old Radcliffe Haughton went to the salon in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin where his wife Zina worked and opened fire, killing his wife and two other women and injuring four others. The gun used in the shooting was bought from an unlicensed private seller advertised on Armslist.com. The popular online firearm vendor was investigated in a sting operation less than a year ago. The shooting was just one of a rash of recent shootings that have taken place at salons across the country. |
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America
The Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Russia Developing Gun That Recognizes Its Owner
Russia Developing Gun That Recognizes Its Owner
The GVP Report - October 16, 2012 |
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► ► Palm Beach Post,'Shoot First' Self-Defense Raises More Questions Than Answers, examines 11 years of Florida homicide data to try and determine the impact of the controversial law. ► Cook County, Illinois Mulling Violence Tax on Guns & Ammunition. Money raised would go into the budget that pays for public health clinics, hospitals, courts and jails. ► As Military Suicides Rise, Focus Is on Private Weapons. With half of all military suicides committed with privately owned guns, Congress is set to overturn a NRA backed 2011 measure that prevents the military from discussing gun safety with potentially suicidal troops. ►
Sign the Petition -Discovery Channel/Outdoor Channel: Ted Nugent Poaching and Lust for Guns and Killing is Not Entertainment. Ted Nugent has pleaded guilty twice to illegal hunting activities that were filmed for Outdoor Channel shows. Now the Discovery Channel is offering the NRA board member even more air time.
► William Hartung, Center for International Policy, Why Obama is Silent on Gun Control as NRA Goes Global. The damage caused by the NRA and its advocacy for loose gun control regulations is not limited to the U.S. Perhaps the most infamous case of the international influence of the NRA has been its role in blocking the creation of a global Arms Trade Treaty. ► Michael Skolnik, Silence the Bullets in Chicago. Mothers wail. Grandmothers sit in silence. Fathers seethe with anger. Girlfriends' bodies shake uncontrollably while tightly gripping sides of caskets. For black and Latino communities, funerals for dead children have become weekly occasions. ► Mike McClellan, East Valley Tribune, Arizona - Mexico's Firearm Superstore. With the death of Border Patrol Agent Nick Ivie recently, the danger those men and women face on a daily basis entered our collective consciousness once more. But before we had time to even honor the sacrifice Agent Ivie made for his country, some politicians weighed in with predictably political comments. ► Jarvis DeBerry, The Times-Picayune, Education Nor Money Inoculates Against Gun Violence. "We had very high hopes for her," said Kendall of his sister Marguerite who was gunned down at her boyfriend's house. "We're all college graduates. My mother's a Dillard graduate. I'm a Dillard graduate. Not in a million years did we think this would happen to our family." ►
► NRA Political Victory Fund releases their Grades and Endorsements for 2012. Local state house races in all 50 states as well as races for the U.S. Congress are detailed. ► NRA endorses Mitt Romney. Chris Cox, chair of the NRA Political Victory Fund, also noted that "Today we live in an America led by a president who mocks our values, belittles our faith, and is threatened by our freedom." ► Capitol Report: NRA Plays to Gun Owner Fears in Swing States Like Wisconsin. The NRA has bought more than $1.3 million in TV ads in Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio and Virginia. The "Defend Freedom, Defeat Obama" ad tells viewers the president is "chipping away at our Second Amendment rights." |
► Jackie Hilly, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, Lost to Gun Violence. Family members pay dearly every day for the devastating loss of their loved ones. ► Andy Pelosi, The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, Debate Over Guns on Campus Heats Up, notes that "guns on campus" bills were defeated in 12 of the 14 states considering such legislation this year. ► NY Court's Decision in Gun-Liability Case Described as Groundbreaking by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The case, brought by the Brady Center, marks the first instance of a court holding that a gun manufacturer can be held liable after a 2005 law that protects gun makers. ► Hildy Saizow, Arizonans for Gun Safety, is the guest speaker at Sun City Faith Presbyterian Church follow-up program to a gun violence forum held last month.
17-year-old Jake Evans, of Parker County, Texas called 911 and said he'd used a .22 revolver to shoot and kill his mother and 15-year-old sister. "It just kind of happened," he said. "I've been kind of, uh, planning on killing for a while now." He went on to say, "I guess this is really selfish to say but, to me, I felt like they were just suffocating me. Just to let you know, I hate the feeling of killing someone." Jake's father was out of town on business when the killings took place. |
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
More Guns, More Mass Shootings - Coincidence?
More Guns, More Mass Shootings - Coincidence?
The GVP Report - October 2, 2012 |
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► CeaseFirePA - Advocates take to courtrooms to tip scales of justice against gun felons. As part of the CourtWatch program advocates attend gun possession sentencing hearings to demand heavy penalties. ► Mayors Against Illegal Guns Applauds Michigan Governor's Opposition to Gun Bill. After hearing from MAIG Michigan mayors the governor announced he would not sign a bill that would have repealed the state's "purchase permit" law that requires a background check and a firearm safety test. ► Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Amicus Briefs: Bringing Our Expertise to the Courts, outlines their program that files amicus briefs in significant Second Amendment cases across the country. ► ► Ralph Fascitelli, Washington Ceasefire, Speak Up, Democrats, on Gun Control. Democrats incorrectly fear that gun control is a poisonous issue. The NRA's clout is less than it seems.
36-year-old Andrew Engeldinger of Minneapolis, Minnesota had worked at Accent Signage Systems since the 1990s. When he was told he no longer had a job, Engeldinger pulled out a 9mm Glock handgun and shot and killed five people, including the founder of the company and a visiting UPS driver. Three others were injured. Engeldinger's parents were so concerned about their son's growing paranoia two years ago they enrolled in a course for families of the mentally ill. Co-workers said he had recently become more erratic and belligerent. Engeldinger shot and killed himself before police arrived. |
► ► Washington Post, Sniper Shootings 10 Years Later, Haunt Those It Touched. In October 2002, a shooting spree in the D.C. region left 10 dead and 3 wounded and paralyzed the region for more than three weeks. In addition to those impacted in D.C. an Alabama victim of the DC snipers tries to rebuild her life in Georgia. ► New York Times, That Loaded Gun in My Carry-on? Oh, I Forgot. TSA reports that the number of guns found at airport security has been steadily rising. Invariably travelers say they simply forgot they had them. A TSA spokesperson comments, "I would never, ever not know that I have a gun in my bag." ► BBC Magazine, Why British Police Don't have Guns. In the U.K. most front-line officers do not carry guns. "There's a general recognition that if the police are walking around with guns it changes things." ► Media Matters, DOJ Inspector General Report: No Evidence for Right-Wing Media's Fast & Furious Gun Control Conspiracy. The report finds "no evidence the agents had improper motives or were trying to accomplish anything other than dismantling a dangerous firearms organization."
► ► Mark Follman, Mother Jones,Mitt Romney Loves a Good Gun Conspiracy. Romney has eagerly courted the pro-gun crowd while ignoring a request to meet with survivors of the Tucson and Aurora mass shootings. ► Eric Boehlert, Media Matters, Rampage Nation: When A Gun Massacre Isn't Even Big News. A shooting in Minneapolis that left six dead received scant national news coverage. How can a nation have a debate about gun control when the epic, random eruptions of violence that guns produce aren't even thoroughly covered as news? ► USA Today, Concealed Carry vs. Colleges. You don't need a Ph.D. to understand that letting college students pack heat is a recipe for tragedy. ► Theresa Brown, New York Times, The Human Cost of the Second Amendment, Spend time in a trauma center and see the victims of gun violence as they come in bloody and terrified. Our country's blind embrace of gun rights made this violent tableau possible, and it's playing out each day in hospitals and morgues all over the country. ► Arnie Arnesen, Providence Journal, White Guys With Guns Beware. How did the Shoot First law pass in statistically safe New Hampshire? According to the bill supporters, it has everything to do with knees and public parking garages. ► David Olimpio, The Good Life, We Don't Want to Play Anymore. Guns don't kill people, people carrying guns out of unreasonable fear and suspicion kill people. It's simple: if you're carrying a gun, you're looking to use it.
► The Detroit News, NRA Role in Training Gun Owners Under Scrutiny in Oakland County. The NRA does not require testing of their firearm instructors for physical or mental soundness or firearms knowledge and safety, and does not track if they've been convicted of violent crimes, imprisoned or placed in a mental hospital. ► Mother Jones, The NRA Surge: 99 Laws Rolling Back Gun Restrictions. Between 2009-2012, 37 states have made it easier to own, carry, and conceal firearms. ► Governor's Club Gun Range Gets City Approval to Serve Alcohol. The new gun range in Powder Springs, Georgia will include a cocktail lounge. According to the owner, "Unfortunately, drinking is part of our society and there's a certain amount of concern that we would not be successful if we did not have the ability to serve alcohol." |