Posted on 06/18/2005 11:04:06 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan
AROUND THE NATION, A RISING TIDE:COMMUNITIES CLAMOR FOR ACTION ON GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION
In Duluth, Minnesota this afternoon, the bells will be ringing. Duluth's citizens are not alone in demanding action.
Washington D.C. – In states throughout the nation, the extreme gun lobby and their willing accomplices in public office are getting stiff reactions to their hard-headed refusal to support reasonable steps to protect the safety of American families.
Some of those responses:
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, two Senators received a frosty reception for offering no genuine response to combating what has been a terrible year of gun violence.
In Illinois, a Governor who was dared and threatened by the gun industry is slamming the door on the gun show loophole, which allows criminals, spousal abusers and potential terrorists to arm themselves without a background check.
In California, groundbreaking new crime detection tools are being proposed that would help law enforcement use bullet shells to track down and prosecute gun criminals.
And in Duluth, Minnesota, community leaders will chime a bell this afternoon for the children lost at the Red Lake Indian Reservation, the four-year-old killed by a target shooter in a tragic accident, and a father of three who died in a bar at the hands of a bully with a concealed handgun permit.
"The voices of the American people are getting louder in demanding action to combat gun violence," said Mike Barnes, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "The people are ahead of the politicians – but smart politicians would be well advised to listen to the rising voices."
"The voices of the American people are getting louder in demanding action to combat gun violence," said Mike Barnes, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "The people are ahead of the politicians – but smart politicians would be well advised to listen to the rising voices."A case in point: Pennsylvania's Senators, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, Monday staged a field hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Specter chairs. The hearing was little more than a photo op for Santorum, who faces a difficult re-election next year. The Senators were greeted with a newspaper editorial that read "if Santorum and Specter side with the gun lobby, then they should stick around after their hearing for the next funeral of a child who has died from being shot." News coverage of the event was dominated with commentary about efforts to stem gun violence, which Specter and Santorum refused to support.
"I don't think they got the reception they expected," said Barbara Montgomery, President of the Pennsylvania Million Mom March Chapters. "But they got the reception they deserved."
In America's heartland, the chief lobbyist of the National Rifle Association in Illinois tried to force Governor Rod Blagojevich to accept destruction of vital law enforcement records as the price tag for protecting citizens from gun purchases by criminals. But the Governor turned the tables on the NRA and helped ensure the passage of a clean bill that closed the loophole without destroying the records. "Our police will be able to continue using the firearm purchase database to protect their officers and track down illegal gun dealers; and people who want to purchase firearms at gun shows in Illinois will go through the same important background checks as people who buy from licensed retail dealers," Governor Blagojevich said.
"What happened in the State Capitol was the people won, and the extremists lost," said Tom Vanden Berk, Chicago Survivors Million Mom March Chapter leader.
Meanwhile, state legislators in California are moving closer to passage of a law that would give law enforcement investigators a remarkably promising new technological tool in crime investigation, with two separate approaches to tagging ammunition that would lead police to the purchasers of guns and ammo. The California Department of Justice is spearheading advocacy of the bills. Griffin Dix, President of the California Million Mom March Chapters, said the technology would "help police solve thousands of handgun crimes and make Californians safer."
Few incidents of gun violence this year have been as high profile as the tragic incident at Red Lake, Minnesota, where ten people, from 15 to 62 years of age, perished March 21. On Wednesday, June 15, as part of a Duluth, Minnesota "Walk for Peace," community members affiliated with the Northland Million Mom March Chapter will ring the bell for each of the victims in their memorial garden, at Lake Place Park near Superior Street and Lake Avenue. They will also ring the bell for Evan Klassen, 4, accidentally shot during target practice at Lake Vermillion; and for Billy Walsh, 43 and the father of three, who was shot at Nye's Polonaise Room in Minneapolis May 12. Zachary Ourada, 26, a concealed handgun permit holder, has been charged with Mr. Walsh's murder. Ourada was reportedly intoxicated and harassing female patrons of the resturant. When Mr. Walsh asked him to leave, Ourada reportedly shot him four times in the back, and later shouted to police "I didn't do nothin' wrong, man! I got a permit to carry..."
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, nevertheless, just signed a bill that makes it even easier for Minnesotans who shouldn't have a permit to get a permit to carry a hidden handgun, and broadens where guns can be taken, including bars and restaurant.
"We believe that when it comes to preventing gun violence, we can do better in Minnesota," said Joan Peterson, Co-President of the Northland Moms. "And we believe it is up to all of us to educate our elected leaders that we expect them to do what the people want. They can lead, or the people will eventually make sure that they follow."
Be Ever Vigilant!
Nothing here http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin#External_links and I'm sure that this is not an authoritative site.
The government creates a problem (the WOD) and then thier solution to the violence that results is take away our freedoms.
Did the Brady Bunch get a new press secretary? They seem to be sticking their putrid, lying heads out in the open more and more lately.
You said it, not me. Based on prior experience with you it is not a limited occurance. Carelessness with facts is a liberal trait. We have to be better than that. Others (like Travis McGee) noticed the unsubstantiated quote as well so this is not matter of personalities (and ours certainly don't go together well). I had hoped that by focusing on facts and not on namecalling you would get the hint. My bad.
I will make the same comment to you that I made to Elbucko (in the interests of fairness). Care to prove that quote is from Ben Franklin? Bet you can't. I wish you could, but I really doubt it.
'Yes, and it's about time! GO BRADY FOLKS! We support you 100 percent. It's getting pretty dangerous out there for us folks that ply our trades in the streets and alleys these days,' clamored an upset pickocket.
Another purse-snatcher-rapist clamored, 'Hell no! We won't work unless something is done to make the streets safe for us again.'
A ten-times convicted child molester sitting in the bushes in a park clamored, 'These are hard times. I'm even afraid to even look at a kid anymore. Guns got to go! Even those stun guns make me nervous.'
Twice-convicted convenience store robber clamored, 'How do you expect us to make a decent living if we can't even go into a 7-11 Store, even for a cup of coffee and not be intimidated by the clerks brandishing hoglegs on their hips?'
Clamor reporter, I.M. Shakey of the VPC clamored that his phone rang for two days straight when the House dumped the 50-Caliber ban bill. 'That was outrageous,' he clamored. After all the lies we told to get it passed . . . and all those dummied-up, in-house polls we used; and all that money we paid and stuff. It's criminal,' he clamored further.
"Get rid of the gangs, problem solved."
Keep dreaming...that means you'd actually have to go after illegals.
hey, Sarah what kills more people guns or smoking?
No. Post #12 said it, I agreed and repeated it at my post #18. Why did you not challenge the poster at #12 for reference instead of me? Regardless of the provenance of the quote, its logic substantiates its validity nonetheless.
Based on prior experience with you it is not a limited occurrence.
Ah! That's what I thought, you got a ping. Otherwise you would have queried post #12 instead of me . This is not about the validity of the quote, but about personalities and some of my opinions that differ with the orthodoxy. I refuse to sing the Bang List Song, word for word and that's what this is all about, isn't it?.
Carelessness with facts is a liberal trait.
Yes it is. And with you, as well. Had fact been your real concern, you would have asked post #12 for his reference to the Franklin quote instead of me. You are bad. And quite transparent.
Covering your bases after the fact, I see. A bit too let to not appear duplicitous.
Correction: "A bit too late to not appear duplicitous"
Clamor: One who digs for clams.
I join the others in questioning your quote.
It is not in my small book Ben Franklin's Wit and Wisdom , and is not even close to his manner of speech in the book.
A huge electro-magnet will be placed above the geographical center of the Continental United States. One day, the switch is thrown, and ALL of America's handguns are collected for proper disposal. Until this magnet is constructed, no effort at gun control should be attempted. There are some concerns over replacement hips, tricycles, and other magnetic objects.
Look Bucko, you made a small error and got nailed. Happens around here occasionally. Grow up and get over it.
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