White House weighs broad gun violence prevention agenda

The GVP Report  - January 8, 2013
In The News ► The White House is weighing a broad, comprehensive approach to curbing gun violence. In addition to reinstating the expired ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines other measures being considered include universal background checks, a national database of certain gun sales and strengthened mental health checks.  ► Slate partners with @GunDeaths to collect data on gun deaths since Dec. 14th. You can help them draw a more complete picture of gun deaths in America.           ► The Supreme Court won't overturn a Georgia law banning guns in churches.The court refused to hear an appeal from GeorgiaCarry.org which asked to overturn a lower court decision upholding Georgia's law banning guns in churches.           ► States with the worst mass shootings in 2012 saw smaller increase in gun sales than states in the South and the West. ► Technology exists that would make guns safer. Biometrics and grip pattern detection can sense the registered owner of a gun and allow only that person to fire it. But the gun industry has no interest in making smart guns.         ► States have subsidized makers of assault rifles to tune of $19 million. A Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting examination of tax records shows millions in tax breaks, most within the past five years.          ► Smith & Wesson broke Clinton-era gun safety pledge to boost profits. Gun manufacturer had agreed new firearms would not take ammunition magazines larger than 10 rounds. But then introduced a new line of high-capacity pistols and its first ever military-style assault rifle.         ►The NRA myth of arming the good guys. Mother Jones investigation shows mass shootings in the US are on the rise and ordinary citizens with guns don't stop them. Community Support ► Bill Moyers, NRA's Vision: A Nation Packing Heat.  Wayne LaPierre means business. Big business. So naturally, in a country where even life and death are measured by the profit margin, the cure for gun violence is, yes, more guns! Bigger profits.  (read full transcript here) ► Naomi Zeveloff, Jewish Daily Forward,Choosing Sensitive Details in One Sandy Hook Story. "After interviewing the mother of a child killed at Newtown I wondered about sharing painful details. She had made it clear that she wanted the public to have a picture of the damage inflicted on the children's bodies.  I now believe she told me about what happened to Noah's body so that I would use it in the story, and give the public a clear picture of the brutality of the Sandy Hook shooting." ► Spocko, FireDogLake, Guns Don't Sell Guns, People Do. How the NRA turns death into a sales tool and how to stop them.  Let's say that people have finally had enough with the way the NRA leadership is driving the discussion. What can you do, to make a difference? Here are some specific actions you can take. ► Rachel Marsden, Baltimore Sun, In NRA-land, We're All Crack Shots and Cold-Blooded Killers.  We need sensible, effective, intelligent solutions, not gratuitously self-serving agenda-pushing. Because the more out of hand things get, the greater the risk of reaching the point of total crackdown on freedom. ► John Wasik, Forbes.com, Gun Liability Insurance: Still a Viable Proposal. Let the insurance companies price the risk according to age, personal history, location and other factors. Like insuring any other form of property - cars, homes - you can buy as many guns as you want.  You'll just need to insure them. ► Liam Madden, Salon.com, Iraq Vet: Newtown Changed My Mind on Gun Control. I'm a hunter and a vet, and I revere the Second Amendment.  But I used bankrupt logic: It's time for gun control. ► Daniel Darling, CNN.com, My Take: It's Time for Evangelicals to Speak Up About Guns. An unwillingness to entertain common-sense restrictions casts the evangelical faith in an unnecessarily unfavorable light. It may cause some to think we love our guns more than our neighbors. There are many things about which Christian should be unyielding; the right to own a killing machine should not be one of them. ► Geoffrey Canada, New York Daily News, New York's Newtown: The epidemic of city children killed by handguns has haunted me throughout my career. As someone who has been to way too many funerals, trying to comfort sobbing mothers over the murders of their beautiful children, I find it incomprehensible that it is harder to buy and own a car in American than it is to buy and own a handgun. At the time that the Second Amendment was passed, it was inconceivable we would turn those guns on ourselves and commence a self-slaughter.  What the Gun Lobby is Doing ► Wayne LaPierre on Meet the Press, "If it's crazy to put more guns in schools, then call me crazy."  LaPierre said there was no chance new gun control will pass in Congress.  Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected LaPierre's claim that Israel serves as proof that guns are needed in schools noting that armed guards at schools are meant to stop terrorists, not crazed or disgruntled gunmen. Jeanne Assam, who was working as a security guard when she confronted a gunman at New Life Church, called LaPierre's proposals "ridiculous." ► Asa Hutchinson, who has been tasked with leading NRA's School Shield program, has ties to the security industry.  Hutchinson sits on the board of Pinkerton Government Services, a firm that provides security officers and other services.   Hutchinson has called for "trained, armed and professional security officers" in all schools. ► Southern Poverty Law Center notes that the far right is in a frenzy over the possibility of gun legislation. In a chilling development, a well-know neo-Nazi posted the photo and home address of a Colorado Congresswoman who proposed a ban on high-capacity magazines.  Reporters at a White Plains, New York newspaper found themselves under similar harassment after the paper published the names and addresses of handgun permit holders. ►Slate.com reports that the NRA has recently thrown its weight behind an industry campaign to deregulate and promote the use of silencers. The American Silencer Association is working to rebrand the silencer as a safety device.		Blogs Arthur Kamm, Art on Issues, The Link Between Widespread Gun Ownership & Gun Violence in America Baldr Odinson, Ceasefire Oregon, Wacko Pro-Gun Conspiracy Theories About the Sand Hook Elementary School Massacre Joan Peterson, Common GunSense, Happy New Year: A brief list of the shootings from 2012 John Rosenthal, Stop Handgun Violence, We Are to Blame for the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre Cathie Whittenburg. OhhShoot Blog, Security guard unintentionally shoots friend during a game of "quick draw" Advocacy ►  Connecticut Against Gun Violence is planning a rally in Hartford, CT, February 14th. For more information go to - www.marchforchange.org ► Baldr Odinson, Ceasefire Oregon, and Colin Goddard, Brady Campaign, took part in an international panel discussion on ITN's Truthloader. ► Toby Hoover, Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, organized a  discussion for citizens concerned about reversing the trend of gun violence. ► Heather Martens, Protect Minnesota, Gun Lobby's Influence is Overstated. Responsible journalists should not actively hamper real change by exaggerating the power of the out-of-touch NRA lobbyists. ► Tom Franklin, William Harwood, Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, Too Many Guns? Yes. Changing the gun culture will be complex, but banning assault weapons and regulating private sales are obvious first steps. ► Violence Policy Center learn the basics - Semiautomatic Assault Weapons: What Are They? What's So Bad About Them? ► Stop Handgun Violence has added 20 children's handprints to it's billboard along the Mass Turnpike that calls for a ban on assault weapons. The handprints represent the 20 first-graders shot and killed in Newtown. ►  Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Mayors Against Illegal Guns worked with a number of celebrities to produce a new video as part of the Demand a Plan campaign. ► Washington Ceasefire will hold a rally January 13th at Westlake Park in Seattle. For more info visit StandUpWA.org Take Action  ► Josh Horwitz, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, outlines the important steps everyone needs to take. "You need to make those calls, you need to write those emails, and that will make the difference." ► Your pledge to make 20 calls in 20 days to your members of Congress starting now can help bring about change. We will provide the telephone number and the script and you can make the calls. Sign up now. Worst of the Week On Dec. 24th, 62-year-old William Spengler of Webster, New York set a fire in his neighborhood and laid in wait for the firefighters to arrive.  As first responders arrived on the scene, he opened fire and killed two volunteer firefighters and injured two others. Killed in the attack were 43-year-old Mike Chiapperini and 19-year-old Tomasz Kaczowka. Spenlger, who killed himself during the ambush, spent 17 years in prison for the beating death of his grandmother. His 24-year-old neighbor, Dawn Nguyen, has been charged with buying the Bushmaster assault rifle used in the attack.  Nguyen went with Spengler to a local gun store and bought two guns on Spengler's behalf. As a convicted felon, Spengler was barred from purchasing firearms.