Who Gets Shot In America

CeasefireUSA: The GVP Report - August 5, 2014
In The News ► For over a year, Jennifer Mascia, tried to find out who gets shot in America and to document the shootings in the New York Times Gun Report blog.  More than 350 posts and 40,000 deaths later, here is what she learned. The story is part of a series from Raw Story, Trigger Happy: Can anything slow down America's epidemic of gun violence? ► James Brady, press secretary for President Reagan and survivor of 1981 shooting, dies at 73. Brady joined his wife Sarah in working for the passage of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993. The bill imposed a background check on gun purchasers. ► Three steps forward: Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a bill that would have allowed teachers to carry concealed guns on school property. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed two gun safety bills, one closing a loophole in CA's "Unsafe Handgun" law and the other speeds up communication on mental health records.  A federal appeals court ruled that, despite a state law, convicted felons in Montana can't own firearms. ► Two steps back: A federal appeals court upheld a Florida law known as the "physician gag rule" that punishes doctors for talking to their patients about guns. A federal judge ruled that the District of Columbia's complete ban on carrying handguns in public was unconstitutional. The ruling has been put on hold to allow D.C. to revise the law. ► The Senate Judiciary Committee held its first-ever hearing on guns and domestic violence. The panel discussed measures to close loopholes in current federal law dealing with stalkers and perpetrators of domestic violence. The full hearing can be viewed on C-Span. ► Mother Jones, Why the Suspected Texas Shooter's Domestic-Violence History Didn't Keep Him From Owning Guns. Ronald Lee Haskell, who shot and killed his sister-in-law, her spouse and four of their five children, had a history of domestic violence. How did he get a gun? ► Rolling Stone Magazine takes an in-depth look at America's Gun Violence Epidemic. Features include Gun Survivors Speak Out, How to Beat the NRA in 7 Not-So-Easy Steps and The 5 Most Dangerous Guns in America. ► A new book, Gun Violence, Disability and Recovery, from the Surviving Gun Violence Project, makes a convincing case for the rights of gun violence victims through reports and stories from countries around the world. ► CNN Reports, What Happens When You Don't Die?, looks at three people who were shot and left paralyzed. "Imagine being fully independent, get a gunshot wound and all of a suddenly you're paralyzed, you can't work, you can't take care of bodily functions. That's what we're dealing with." Community Support ► Christy Martin: My Gun Didn't Protect Me. I'm a woman who knows how to defend herself. As one of the most successful female boxers, I made a career of dispatching would-be assailants. But all my years of training proved useless when my abusive husband decided he would murder me with my own gun. ► Chicago Bulls star Joakim Noah through his Noah's Arc Foundation has launched the "Chicago Stand Up" psa campaign urging Chicagoans to put down the guns and stand up for peace "in order to bring some hope, change and support to the community." ► Mary Scott Huff, My Summer, So Far (Part 4). The message I've received from the universe has been loud, clear, and redundant: April 27, My friend reminded me that I have not done anything to change the gun violence problem in my country. June 10, Text from my daughter, "Mom, there's a shooter in my school. I'm okay, but I wanted to tell you that I love  you." ► Emily Badger, Washington Post, More guns, less crime? Not exactly. Let more people carry conealed guns, and assaults go up. Put more guns in circulation, and more bad things are bound to happen. ► NPR Radio, A Year After Trayvon-Zimmerman Verdict, What's Changed? A roundtable discussion with Michael Skolnick, Keli Goff, Neil Minkoff and Leonard Pitts. ► Fred Sauter, Democrat & Chronicle, Essay:NRA Has Lost A Member.  The NRA has missed opportunities for civil discussion by stonewalling many proposed rational changes in gun laws. They could have a role in crafting national standards if they would recognize that the public is demanding change and be a constructive part of it. ► Wonkette.com, Philosophy Professor On Dealing With Open-Carry Advocates: Don't Be Here Now. Jack Russell Weinstein, professor of philosophy at U. of North Dakota, talks about a possible response to the presence of "open carry" advocates in a restaurant: leave. ► Vox.com, Squeaky-clean comics hero Archie is dying to prove a point about gun control. In the July issue, Archie dies because he took a bullet to protect his good friend, gay senator Kevin Keller, as part of a storyline that examines issues of gun control. What the Gun Lobby is Doing ► Brian Judy, a senior Washington state lobbyist for the NRA, compared supporting gun control to paving the way for the Holocaust. His remarks were aimed at Nick Hanauer, Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, whose family fled Germany to escape the Nazis. ► Smith & Wesson Hit For Overseas Bribes. The company has agreed to pay $2 million in fines for bribing officials in Pakistan, Indonesia and other countries as it tried to sell firearms to military and law enforcement agencies overseas. ► The NRA's Murder Mystery. One court sent him to prison for shooting a woman. Another set him free over bad police work. Was the NRA's top lawyer railroaded - or a "bad guy with a gun"? ► NRA videos advocate making gun training for children "necessary to advance to the next grade" and allowing blind people to carry loaded, hidden guns in public.		Blogs Armed With Reason, The Drunk Driving Fallacy: Why Gun Regulation is Like Drunk Driving Laws Bald Odinson, Ceasefire Oregon, Unpatriotic Gun Nuts Rush to Buy AK-47s Due to Sanctions Against Russia Joan Peterson, Common GunSense, Guns Make People Bolder National Gun Victims Action Council, Shot at a Gun Show? It Happened to Seven People Since Last Year Protest Easy Guns, Coddling Criminals Advocacy ► Connecticut Against Gun Violence and other advocates gathered in Greenwich to protest a fundraiser headlined by NJ Gov. Christie. The groups were protesting Christie's recent veto of a gun safety bill. ► Shannon Watts, Moms Demand Action, op-ed View the Facts: All Moms Should Support Bill to Protect Victims From Gun Violence. ► John Rosenthal, Stop Handgun Violence, applauds the Massachusetts House & Senate who reached an agreement on a bill to strengthen the state's gun laws. ► Violence Policy Center report Gun Deaths Outpace Motor Vehicle Deaths in 14 States and the District of Columbia in 2011.  ► Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort launches campaign, Hearts & Soles to Prevent Gun Violence. The campaign will travel around Wisconsin with 476 pairs of empty shoes representing the number of people killed by guns each year in Wisconsin. ► Representatives from Americans for Resonsible Solutions, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and the Violence Policy Center gave a staff briefing at the Cannon House Office Building, Gun Violence Prevention - What's Happening at the State Level. ► Nicole Hockley, Sandy Hook Promise, remains committed to ending gun violence. Hockley said Christie's recent veto was a slap in the face to her and to the memory of her son, Dylan, who was killed at Sandy Hook. ► Gerry Hills, Arizonans for Gun Safety, chastised AZ Sen. Jeff Flake for failing to show up to a landmark Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence and domestic violence. ► Moms reflect on the effects of the 2000 Million Mom March on D.C. "We've made mistakes, but I've never felt more hopeful than I do now. More people than ever are involved in this issue, and they're not going away." ► Don't Like Gun Violence? Stop Funding It. The Boston globe looks at various gun manufacturer divestment campaigns from the Campaign to Unload and States United to Prevent Gun Violence, including the Unload Your 401k campaign. Worst of the Week 40-year-old Chad Pickering, of Bemidji, Minnesota, admitted shooting a 17-year-old girl multiple times because she asked him to stop trespassing in her yard on his riding lawnmower. Pickering shot the girl in the chest, right thigh and left ankle while she was standing on her deck. She said he often carried a pistol with him. She was taken to the hospital in Duluth for treatment and is expected to recover from her wounds.