CeasefireUSA: The GVP Report - March 31, 2015 |
|||||||||
► ► Annual Review of Public Heath has published a special issue devoted to gun violence prevention and policy. Articles include: Evidence to Guide Gun Violence Prevention in America; The Epidemiology of Firearm Violence in the 21st Century U.S.; and A Public Health Model to Reduce Gun Violence. ► Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 2015 State Gun Law Trendwatch rounds up and analyzes the positive and negative legislative trends. ► Recent legislative victories include: Virginia Governor McAuliffee vetoed three irresponsible gun bills; Montana Governor Steve Bullock vetoed two gun rights bills; West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed bill to let people carry concealed handguns without permits; North Dakota Senate defeated concealed-carry of guns in schools. ► National Education Association, neaToday, States Look to Throw Open School Doors to Concealed Weapons. State lawmakers in nearly 20 states are looking at bills that would allow guns in k12 schools or on college campuses. ► A new poll from Everytown for Gun Safety finds that 88 percent of likely 2016 voters oppose legislation that would allow gun owners to carry their concealed weapons without a permit. ► Violence Policy Center new website, Concealed Carry Killers. The evidence is clear that all too often, private citizens use their concealed handguns to take lives, not to save them. ► Just hours after meeting with Chicago Bulls star Joakim Noah to discuss Noah's "Rock Your Drop' anti-violence campaign, the manager of Chicago rapper Lil Durk was gunned down. See Noah's comment on the murder here.
► ► Brian McDowell, The Chanute Tribune, Kansas, Targeting a proposed new gun law. I don't currently own any firearms and prefer to protect by estate with a baseball bat, three trained attack cats, and a generally warm relationship with local police. I have never felt that not owning a gun has ever left me at risk for anything. ► Mike The Gun Guy, Want to take a public health approach to gun violence? Ask the NRA for help. Know why the NRA has been so successful selling the positive utility of guns? Because they have adopted a public health strategy for convincing the public and lawmakers that what they are saying is true. ► Charles Topher, IfYouOnlyNews.com, Ammosexual answers to this question shed a true light on American 'Gun Culture' A Facebook page recently posted this question to their fans: I am a gun owner because____. Overwhelmingly the answer was "because I can." ► Kimberly Yonkers, CNN, The firearms tragedy we forget about. Guns are a particularly effective way to commit suicide. While firearms are the means used in only 10% of suicide attempts, they are fatal more than 95% of the time. ► Tampa Bay Times, Florida, Editorial, Public safety sacrificed on altar of NRA. It's been a banner session in Tallahassee for gun zealots and the NRA and a terrible one for common sense and public safety. ► National Public Radio, Weekend Edition, William Electric Black tackles gun violence in 5 ambitious plays. Every day, this one shot, that 14-year-old, that 15-year-old, a young girl, basketball star, top-10 in the country just gunned down. So it's just gnawing at me, scratching at me. And I said I have to do something. ► Laurie Roberts, The Republic, Phoenix, AZ, Arizona Legislature: felons deserve guns, too. The AZ Legislature is taking steps to ensure that criminals never have to undergo the indignity of a background check before they buy a gun in this state. A bill would block voters or future Legislatures from requiring background checks. ► Andrea Grimes, RH Reality Check, I made a joke about guns and a man threatened to assault me. Last weekend I made a joke about a secret gun vaporizer on Twitter and then spent three days reporting the myriad rape and death threats I received over social media.
► In the hunt to be the 2016 GOP pick, top contenders agree on 1 thing: Guns. There are 15 noteworthy contenders for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. Together, they own at least 40 guns. ► Glock lawsuit: Gun biz run like the Mob. Gunmaker Gaston Glock allegedly hired a team to root out embezzlement - then turned on them when they found his own dirty dealings. ► Fox claims that FBI report that doesn't cover mass shooting falsified mass shooting data. Fox News relied on claims from discredited gun researcher John Lott to falsely suggest that an FBI report inflated the occurrence of mass shootings, possibly for political reason. The report in question explicitly noted in its introduction, "This is not a study of mass killings or mass shootings." ► Secretive group destroys candidates' chances, leaves few fingerprints. NRA-launched Law Enforcement Alliance of America targets state races and has succeeded in helping knock out 12 state-level candidates in 14 years. |
► Jonathan Perloe, Connecticut Against Gun Violence, op-ed, Standing Ground on Tough Gun Laws. ► Why this Manhattan gun store didn't actually sell guns. "Gun owners often believe that firearms make them safer, but having a gun in your home actually makes you far less safe for homicide, suicide and domestic violence," said Leah Gunn Barrett, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence ► Brady Campaign warns not to promote 'attitude of recklessness' in response to Duggar photos of children with guns. ► Heather Martens, Protect Minnesota, speaks out against bill that would legalize gun suppressors/silencers.
► Coalition to Stop Gun Violence delivers petitions asking WTTG to fire Emily Miller for statements she made at two gun rallies earlier this year. ► Jennifer Thorne, Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, speaks out against a new state law that allows hunters to use suppressors/silencers on guns. ► Everytown for Gun Safety asks you to make sure your friends and family know about the NRA's guns-on-campus agenda by sharing this bracket on social media. ► Fritz Walker, CeaseFirePA, op-ed, Change rules so suspected terrorists can't buy guns in U.S. Why does the NRA do its best to block legislation that would prevent known terrorists, identified on the Terrorist Watchlist, from purchasing all the guns and ammunition their bloodthirsty hearts desire?
A. 12-year-old boy was cooking with his older brother when an argument erupted. The boy shot his 6-year-old brother to death, wounded his older brother in the leg and then killed himself. The boy's aunt told reporters the boys' mother owned a gun for protection. |
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Guns With History
Guns With History
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
#ImUnloading Against Gun Violence
#ImUnloading Against Gun Violence
CeasefireUSA: The GVP Report - March 17, 2015 |
|||||||||
► ► A new study in JAMA Pediatrics analyzed suicides among people aged 10 to 24 and found that suicide rates were nearly doubled in rural areas, compared to urban areas. Gun suicides were nearly three times more common in rural areas. This may be because gun ownership is high in rural regions. ► NY Times, Blocking the Paths to Suicide. Suicide can be a very impulsive act, especially among the young. While mental health and substance abuse treatment must always be components in treating suicidality, researchers are stressing another avenue: "means restriction." More attention needs to paid to access to guns. ► America has more guns in fewer hands than ever before. Data released from the General Social Survey shows that in 2014, the number of American households owning guns remained at 40-year lows. Guns were present in fewer than a third of U.S. households. ► A federal appeals court upheld Sunnyvale, CA ban on possessing ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds. The court ruled that evidence indicates large-capacity magazines "results in more gunshots fired, results in more gunshot wounds per victim, and increased the lethality of gunshot injuries." ► ► President Obama's commitment to common-sense gun regulations is as strong as ever, even though his administration is delaying a proposal to ban a type of armor-piercing ammunition. ► Florida may rethink "bullets in the backyard." In 2011, the FL Legislature, with help from the NRA, approved a law imposing fines on local governments that set their own gun laws. Law enforcement officers could also be fined $5,000. Since that time anyone can set up a shooting range and shoot into a berm of dirt in their backyard. ► A bipartisan group from the U.S. Congress introduced legislation to expand background checks on gun purchasers. Republican Rep. Peter King, NY and Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson, CA, co-authored the legislation.
► ► Don of All Trades, A Senseless Death..... "The officer fought through the angry crowd and put a dying 5-year-old boy he didn't know in his car. Did he have to do that? No. Still, it didn't matter on this night. Five years shouldn't be anyone's time." ► Benjamin Corey, Patheos.com,I'm Not Scared of Muslims, I'm Scared of White Guys With Guns. I'm scared of the weirdos who take their AR15s shopping with them at Walmart just to prove a point, who are advocating that anyone should be allowed to carry a concealed gun without any type of permit or training. ► Metro.us, The makers of 'The Hunting Ground' on campus sexual assault and the gun controversy. The directors discuss their latest activist documentary and say the idea that guns on campus could stop sexual assaults is "ridiculous." ► ► Justin Peters, Stop Calling Children's Gun Deaths "Accidental" They're the fault of criminally negligent parents and guardians - who must be prosecuted. "Accidental" implies that nobody is at fault. But you can absolutely predict tragic outcomes from irresponsible gun storage practices, and you can easily assign blame. ► Francis Clines, NY Times, The Final Post-Mortem on Sandy Hook. The 277-page report to Gov. Malloy concludes that there is "no legitimate place in the civilian population" for high-powered battlefield rifles and large-capacity ammunition magazines designed for the military. ► Kasai Rex, Fear and the Gun Lobby. The common American delusion that a gun is the key to safety in an inherently unsafe world is not only fallacious; it's dangerous. ►
► The NRA's stranglehold threatens the whole world. In addition to its outsize influence on American politics, the NRA influences U.S, foreign policy as well - specifically, the implementation of international treaties. ► Gun bill would tie hands of Arizona voters. State lawmakers are moving to deny future legislatures - and even future voters - the power to mandate background checks on the private sale of guns. ► Radio show host Alex Jones brandished an assault weapon and criticized a gun safety PSA as a "full out assault on the basic underpinnings of this country" during a recent broadcast. |
►CeaseFirePA objects when a gun organizer asks gun owners to bring their guns to a rally for "a Rosa Parks moment." ► Members of the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus attended hearings at the State House in Austin, TX to object to a proposed guns on campus bill. ► Rev. Cheryl Thomas, Iowans for Gun Safety said a bill before the state Senate is a bad bill. "It's about convenience for gun owners and gun sellers and you do not have a constitutional right to convenience."
► Becky Ceartas, North Carolinians Against Gun Violence talks about the proposed ATF ammunition ban. ► Jeanette Richardson, Virginia Center for Public Safety, whose son Patrick was shot and killed outside his home, is attacked on Twitter by a gun nut using several fake accounts. ► Josh Horwitz, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, told a forum at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine about the benefits of a gun violence restraining order system. ► Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld a lower court ruling that sided with the Shrewsbury police chief in a gun licensing dispute. Joining the city's arguments were Stop Handgun Violence, the Brady Center, and the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. ► Generation Progress held a three day Gun Violence Prevention Summit that brought together 120 young people from 27 different states. ► Vinnie DeMarco, Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence, said making changes to Maryland's strong gun laws would have dangerous consequences.
Police charged 20-year-old Jeffrey Williams with shooting two police officers during a protest outside police headquarters in Ferguson, Missouri. The protest was part of ongoing tension in the town since August 9th when a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed, 18-year-old black man. Williams told police the shooting had nothing to do with the protest, that he was shooting at someone else but hit the police officers instead. |
Monday, March 2, 2015
Where there are more guns, more women die
CeasefireUSA: The GVP Report - March 3, 2015 |
|||||||||
► Eight health professional organizations and the American Bar Association stress that "deaths and injuries related to firearms constitute a major public heath problem in the U.S." and issue a call to action. ► U.S. District Court Judge upholds California cartridge-microstamp law. The ruling stated that the California law that bans new semiautomatic handguns that don't stamp identifying information on bullet cartridges doesn't violate the Second Amendment because gun owners don't have a right to buy specific types of firearms. ► In alarming ruling, Missouri's gun-friendly Constitution now allows felons to possess weapons. A circuit court judge in St. Louis ruled that Missouri's new constitutional amendment can't prohibit a felon from possessing a gun. ► Three years after Trayvon Martin's killing, his mother meets Medgar Evers' widow. Myrlie Evers-Williams and Sybrina Fulton's personal stories are separated by five decades, but these women share parallel lives. ► To sell or destroy? Law enforcement agencies weigh fate of seized guns. After a confiscated gun auctioned off by the Duluth Police Department was used in a New Hope City Hall shooting, police departments are reassessing the risks of returning seized guns to the public rather than destroying them. ► How Jonathan Hutson, Brady Campaign, used a Twitter account to stop a homegrown terrorist in his tracks. After Hutson notified the authorities, 28-year-old David Lenio, who threatened to kill school children and Jews, was arrested by FBI and local Montana police.
► ► Jeffrey Swanson and Paul Appelbaum, Angry and Armed: A Lethal Combination. A Harvard study estimates that over 10 percent of the adult population in the U.S. exhibits impulsive angry behavior and has firearms at home. A smaller proportion are angry and carry guns outside the home. ► Brian Hicks, Charleston, SC Post & Courier, Stick to your guns, South Carolina - and take them away from abusers. This week the SC state Senate passed legislation to ramp up penalties for people convicted of criminal domestic violence - including taking away their guns for up to 10 years. Now we just have to hope that the state House shows as much common sense. ► Gail Collins, New York Times, A Gun on Every Corner. A permit to carry a concealed weapon from Mississippi is concrete proof of the owner's ability to fill out an application. In Virginia, you can take an online course. ► Mike Weisser, Mike the Gun Guy, Why 'armor-piercing' bullets are flying off the shelves. The ATF is proposing a ban on the manufacture of certain bullets that can penetrate body armor worn by police. ► ►Renee Graham, Boston Globe, The Gun in the Nightstand. When I was 12 I found my father's gun. It's stunning to consider how easily I could have killed someone, shattering their loved ones, and leaving my own family in ruins. The simple fact is that an unsecured gun in a household with children is an invitation to tragedy. ► Sharon Panitch, VT Digger, Gun Hearing Gives Disturbing Lesson. While at the Statehouse to testify for background checks someone in hunter orange walked by my 10-year-old daughter and her friend in their GunSense t-shirts and made the comment, "Nice shirt, girls. Hope they're bulletproof." And I was told that I should be tried for treason. ► Dr. Chana Sacks, New England Journal of Medicine, In Memory of Daniel - Reviving Research to Prevent Gun Violence. As a hurting cousin and as a determined physician, I believe there is a path to better understanding and to reducing firearm-related violence. ► Anne Skomorowsky, Columbia University Medical Center, You think your drunk college-age daughters are bad with their iPhones? Imagine them with guns. Lawmakers who argue guns in the hands of college women will prevent rape reveal their ignorance of the circumstances around college sexual assault, which typically occurs between people who know each other and is often complicated by alcohol and drugs.
► Inside the conservative campaign to stop cops from enforcing federal gun laws. Conservative lawmakers in at least 11 states are pushing legislation that would prevent state law enforcement from enforcing some or all federal gun restrictions. ► Conceal Carry Travel USA has launched a website to allow people to search for businesses that welcome concealed carry permit holders and their loaded, hidden weapons. ► National Rifle Association donations soar to $96.4 million, up 11.5%, after Newtown school massacre. According to IRS filings, in 2013 contributions and grants to the NRA increased by 11.5% and its total revenue increased by 35.8% to $348 million. |
► Jennifer Thorne, Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, op-ed, Nothing to celebrate in Statehouse's gun regulations bill. ► Moms Demand Action condemn Montana House passage of dangerous gun bill that would eliminate all firearm training and premitting requirements. ► Vernell Miller, Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence, wants to know why the killers of her grandson and his best friend had guns in the first place. ► Josh Horwitz, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, took part in a panel discussion "Gun Violence: A Conversation" at Washington College in Maryland. ► Gary Pudup & Alex Dubroff, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, op-ed, Herkimer County vote on SAFE Act questioned. ► Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility & Everytown for Gun Safety file papers to join legal defense of I-594 background check law.
52-year-old Glen Hochman of White Plains, New York shot and killed his 17-year-old daughter, Alissa, and 13-year-old daughter, Deanna, as they slept. He then killed their three dogs, and typed a suicide note before turning the gun on himself. Hochman was a 22-year police veteran who had recently retired. In a move a family friend called "pure evil" Hochman purposely left his surviving wife and older daughter out of his pension. The state retirement system has indicated that because the forms for this had not yet been processed they have the option to recognize the original form that will give a death benefit to Hochman's widow. |
