CeasefireUSA: The GVP Report - January 20, 2015 |
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► ► Michigan Governor Rick Snyder vetoed a bill that could have given concealed weapons permits to persons subject to restraining orders in stalking or domestic abuse cases. ► ShotSpotter technology helps to combat gun violence in Springfield, MA. Total crime was down 19 percent last year and incidents of gunfire logged by acoustic sensors are down by 50 percent. ShotSpotter said gunfire incidents declined by more than 20 percent in the 31 U.S. communities that use the technology. ►To reduce gun violence, know thy neighbor.Yale University researchers found that the more closely knit people reported their neighborhood to be, the less exposure to violence they had. ► U.S. House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force announces vice-chairs in 114th Congress. Task force chair Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) announces 11 vice chairs. Thompson said they "have a wide range of expertise and will bring unique ides to the table as we work to reduce and prevent gun violence." ► If the trend continues, deaths by guns will overtake deaths caused by cars in America this year. The Center for American Progress looking at data from the Center for Disease Control first spotted this trend. Bloomberg Government also compiled data, concluding that guns will be deadlier than cars for all age groups. ►Terrorism the media overlooks. The media reports on terrorist plots in the Middle East and radical Islamists but often steers clear of white, homegrown, Christian-based anti-government radicals in the U.S. A recent plot to blow up a police station in Atlanta, GA was virtually un-covered by the mainstream media. ► Why the CDC still isn't researching gun violence, despite the ban being lifted two years ago. President Obama requested $10 million for the CDC's gun violence research in his last two budgets. But the Republican-controlled House has continued to block the funding.
► ► Evan DeFilippis and Devin Hughes, The Myth Behind Defensive Gun Ownership. Despite having nearly no academic support in public health literature, the myth that millions of gun owners successfully use their firearms to defend themselves and their families from criminals is the single largest motivation behind gun ownership. ► Todd Frankel, Washington Post, The study that gun-rights activists keep citing but completely misunderstand. The National Academies' Institute of Medicine and National Research Council's study clearly makes the case for why more gun-violence research is needed. But gun-rights supporters zero in on just a few statements and ignore the overall point that injuries and deaths involving firearms are a pressing public health problem. ► Jennifer O'Connell, Irish Times, Worried about gun violence? Have a lollipop. There are many things I love about living in the US, but my children having to do a drill "in case a crazy person ever breaks into our school" isn't one of them. ► Victoria Lewis, The Oregonian, Kids should talk about guns in school. Kids don't need another lecture from adults. They need to hear what their peers think, the ones who hate guns, the ones who love them and the ones who haven't decided. ► Editorial, Daily Times, Primos, PA, Act 192 is Pa.'s shameful gift to gun lobby. The new law allows gun advocates to sue PA cities that enact their own gun control ordinances. They don't even have to show they have been harmed by the ordinances. Last Wednesday, the NRA did not waste any time exploiting the outrageous law and filed suit against Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Lancaster. ► Debbie Smith, Nevada state senator, Nevada needs expanded gun checks. Last June a Las Vegas shooting left three people dead. One of the shooters used Facebook to buy a rifle despite having numerous felony convictions. Closing the background check loophole would help keep felons like him from getting guns. ► Dan Simpson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Whitewashing the gun lobby. The NRA is not about protecting the Second Amendment, it's about selling guns. The PBS "Frontline" piece "Gunned Down" was inadequate, to the point of raising my suspicions that it was involved in a whitewashing of the NRA. ► Lynda Waddington, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Why your gun makes me nervous. I am angered by lawmakers and gun advocates who preach blind trust in the same breath as they extol the dangers of society as their reason for needing to carry a weapon in a bookstore.
► A group of gun enthusiasts took weapons into the Washington state House gallery to protest a new voter-approved gun background-check law. In response, Lt. Gov. Owen announced the public will no longer be able to openly carry guns in the chambers. He said it didn't make sense to allow people to openly carry firearms while banning backpacks, signs and umbrellas. ► A Texas gun rights group reenacted the Paris massacre with "armed civilians" and everyone still died. The only time the "armed civilian" survived was when the volunteer playing him ran away. ► A proposed South Carolina bill would require all public school students to take an NRA-approved gun rights course "for at least three consecutive weeks during one grading period in each academic year." ► Attorneys general from 26 states filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court over a San Francisco ordinance requiring locked storage for handguns, arguing it threatens the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier declared the burden of storage was small in the face of ample evidence that storing handguns in a locked container reduces the risk of deaths. |
► Connecticut Against Gun Violence and Newtown Action Alliance successfully worked to support the judicial nomination of a former legislator who voted in favor of CT's gun safety laws. The NRA urged members to oppose the nomination. ► The Kansas Chapter of Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is working on a bill to extend background checks on gun sales in Kansas. ► Steve Gunn, Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, speaks out against a bill to allow guns to be carried on public buses and trains in Utah. ► The Virginia Center for Public Safety held its 23rd annual vigil at the State Capitol in Richmond. The vigil honors the lives of Virginians killed by gun violence. ► On the 4th anniversary of the Tucson shooting that killed 6 and injured 13, including Gabby Giffords, American for Responsible Solutions, President Obama praised her advocacy work.
► Violence Policy Center annual study, Black Homicide Victimization in the U.S. ► Shira Goodman, CeaseFirePA, encourages Pennsylvania municipalities with gun laws to stand pat in the face of recent lawsuits, at least until the legal challenge to the new law is resolved. ► Leah Gunn Barrett, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, comments on efforts to strengthen New York's SAFE Act. ► Everytown for Gun Safety and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia Journalism School are organizing a two-day workshop for journalists on covering guns and gun violence.
The bodies of a Minnesota couple and their 5-year-old daughter were found in their Apple Valley home in an apparent murder-suicide. Through the front door window, a neighbor saw the bodies of David Crowley, 29, his wife Komel, 28 and daughter Rani with a gun nearby, after noticing packages left at the front door for weeks. Crawley had a fascination with guns. His Instagram account shows him posing with numerous guns and ammunition. |
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Precious Lives
Precious Lives
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Success stories you might not have heard
CeasefireUSA: The GVP Report - January 6, 2015 |
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► ► 10 Newtown families sue Bushmaster, gun distributor and seller for wrongful death. The lawsuit reads, "In order to continue profiting from the sale of AR-15s, defendants chose to disregard the unreasonable risks the rifle posed outside of specialized, highly regulated institutions like the armed forces and law enforcement. Plaintiffs seek nothing more and nothing less than accountability for the consequences of that choice." ► 2014 saw a continued decline in murders in America's big cities even as the number of shootings were on the rise. In the 10 cities with the highest number of murders, 6 saw a significant drop in the murder rate while 2 showed significant increases. ► The number of law enforcement officers killed by firearms in the U.S. in 2014 jumped by 56 percent compared to 2013. This included 15 ambush assaults. The states with the most officer deaths were California, Texas and New York. ► A new study in JAMA Psychiatry by Joseph Simonetti et al, finds that U.S. teens report easy access to firearms, even when they have mental health problems that put them at an increased risk of suicide. The study notes that firearms are the second most common means of suicide among adolescents and calls for strategies to decrease firearm access in this age group. ► A new study in American Journal of Public Health, Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of American Firearms, by Jonathan Metzl and Kenneth MacLeish, reviews some central assumptions that frequently arise in the aftermath of mass shootings. ► ► Media Matters discusses what the media isn't saying about support for stronger gun laws in articles hyping a controversial polling question in the recent Pew Research Center gun rights survey. ► People Magazine, Shot by a middle school classmate, Kendal Sanders rebuilds her life - and forgives. Last January, Kendal, then 13, was shot by a 12-year-old classmate at school in New Mexico. "He did something that's going to continuously, for the rest of my life, challenge me," she says. "And after he gets out, he's done. But I'm never going to be completely normal, like everyone else."
► Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho, editorial: Guns, Deaths and the NRA. It's time for a real conversation about guns in America, one that's been silenced for too long. Guns are dangerous, even if the gun industry's primary mouthpiece refuses to admit it. ► William Parkinson, The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Concealed-Carry's Tragic Toll. When all this concealed-carry nuttiness reaches its end, when otherwise intelligent people discover they've been hoodwinked by the firearms industry, maybe, just then, we all can breathe a touch easier. ► FreakOutNation, The NRA's Most Insane Moments of 2014. Yes, We Shortened the Very Long List. When the whole "let's give Santa a bowl full of bullets for Christmas" debacle happened, it was just one of many slippery slopes the NRA fell down in 2014. ► Mike the Gun Guy, Want To Get Shot With Your Own Gun? Carry It Concealed. There is not a single, credible study which validates the idea that using a gun to defend yourself against a criminal attack is any better than other ways, such as running away, or calling the cops. ► Mike Kelly, North Jersey Record, Access to guns again is focus in tragedy's aftermath. There are many disturbing threads to be examined in the story of the assassination-style murders of NY police officers Ramos and Liu. But the story of how Brinsley managed to obtain a handgun could turn out to be the least surprising. ► Eleanor Bader, Truthout, Book Review, The Last Gun: How Changes in the Gun Industry are Killing Americans and What It Will Take to Stop It, by Tom Diaz. ► USA Today editorial, Amid Court Secrecy, Guns Continued to Kill. Remington finally proposes settling nationwide class action suits by installing new triggers in some rifles. ► Sabrina Siddiqui, How the NRA Lost Its Battle To Defeat Vivek Murthy as Obama's Surgeon General. In a final appeal to their colleagues, Senators Blumenthal and Murphy asked what about Murthy's statements on gun violence was inaccurate. "Dr. Murthy is right. Gun Violence is a problem that this country should be addressing," Murphy said. ► Michael A. Cohen, The Boston Globe, Three Ways to Increase Gun Safety in the Home. Every day there resides among Americans a clear and present danger - millions of guns, many purchased for home protection that are having the exact opposite effect.
► Frontline: Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA, explores the NRA's history, political evolution and influence. ► Texas Gun Slingers Police the Police. In Arlington, Texas, armed open-carry activists are challenging cops as they do their jobs, in escalating confrontations. ► 'Machine Gun America' Theme Park Opens in Orlando. Kids as young as 13 can shoot high-powered automatic machine guns at the attraction which unashamedly romanticizes violence. |
► Women Against Gun Violence blog, How my Seven-Year-Old Daughter Inspired Me to Run for Office. ► Americans for Responsible Solutions and Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence toolkit, Commonsense Solutions: State Laws to Expand Background Checks for Unlicensed Gun Sales. ► Ed Smith, Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence, IndyStar lte, State Laws Help Reduce Gun Violence. ► Court rules that lawsuit by Brady Center and NY firefighters against Gander Mountain gun dealer can move forward. ► Penny Okamoto, Ceasefire Oregon, comments on new state law that eases concealed handgun restrictions. ► Ladd Everitt, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, discusses guns and the press on CounterSpin with David Dayen. ► Shira Goodman, CeaseFirePA, discusses the state of gun crime and gun laws in Pennsylvania on NewsWorks. ► Shannon Watts, Moms Demand Action, talks with Salon.com, The NRA is Losing. ► Steve Gunn, Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, comments on gun violence in Utah in 2014.
35-year-old ex-Marine, Bradley Stone, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot two days after a shooting spree that left six people dead. Stone was locked in a child custody dispute with his ex-wife, Nicole Stone, of Pennsburg, PA. Stone shot and killed Nicole as well as her sister, Patricia Flick, her sister's husband, Aaron and the couple's 14-year-old daughter, Nina. Nicole's mother, Joanne Hill and grandmother, Patricia Hill were also killed. Neighbors said Nicole Stone lived in constant fear of her ex-husband. |
