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Gun Control

Wave Of Lawsuits Against US Gun Makers

May 29, 2023 Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian. , , ,
As America’s gun crisis shows no sign of abating, there is some hope for reducing the number of mass shootings and killings. The emerging wave of lawsuits against gun makers echoes previous successes against the car industry, opioid companies and big tobacco. In New York, California, Delaware and other states, new laws aim to provide ways around a near 20-year immunity provided to gun manufacturers and distributors. In Indiana, a lawsuit brought by victims of the 2021 mass shooting at a FedEx facility aims to hold a gun manufacturer accountable for the horror wrought by one of its weapons.

Why Americans Are Shot At The ‘Wrong House’

April 28, 2023 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
In recent days there have been widely reported stories about individuals in the United States who were shot because they were in the “wrong” location. The most prominent case was that of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City, Missouri. Yarl is a Black 16-year old who went to the wrong address to pick up his younger siblings. He was shot by an 84-year old white man, Andrew Lester, who said he was “scared to death” upon seeing a Black person ringing his doorbell. Yarl is recovering from his wounds but others were not so lucky. A young white woman named Kaylin Gillis suffered a fatal gunshot wound when she and her friends pulled into the “wrong” road in upstate New York.

America’s Gun Fetish

June 7, 2022 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , ,
Guns were a ubiquitous part of my childhood. My grandfather, who had been a master sergeant in the army, had a small arsenal in his house in Mechanic Falls, Maine. He gave me a 2020 bolt action Springfield rifle when I was 7. By the time I was 10, I had graduated to a Winchester lever action 30-30. I moved my way up the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) Marksmanship Qualification Program, helped along by a summer camp where riflery was mandatory. Like many boys in rural America, I was fascinated by guns, although I disliked hunting. Two decades as a reporter in war zones, however, resulted in a deep aversion to weapons. I saw what they did to human bodies. I inherited my grandfather’s guns and gave them to my uncle.

Gun Control Activists Marching 50 Miles To Smith & Wesson HQ

August 25, 2018 Phillip Marcelo, AP.org , ,
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — Gun control advocates, including one of the survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting and the parents of one of the victims, are marching 50 miles (80 kilometers) across Massachusetts this week to the headquarters of gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson as part of a youth-led push for stricter gun laws. About 40 students and supporters set off from downtown Worcester in central Massachusetts on Thursday morning holding signs denouncing gun violence and chanting slogans criticizing gun makers and the National Rifle Association. They're destined for Smith & Wesson's headquarters in Springfield, where they'll hold a large demonstration Sunday. As he set off with marchers, David Hogg, a survivor of the February massacre at a Parkland high school who has since become a prominent gun control advocate...

Rally To Commemorate Two Year Anniversary Of Pulse Nightclub Shooting

June 16, 2018 By Zach D. Roberts, NationofChange ,
The two year anniversary of the nations second largest modern gun massacre, the Pulse Nightclub shooting, brought together a collection of gun reform groups for a rally in New York City’s Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, Tuesday. The Plaza sits between the United Nations building and Donald Trump’s “Trump World Tower.” The decision to hold the rally and die-in at the Plaza, was not accidental. It was a message to the world that not all American’s are okay with the senseless gun violence in this nation. The other message was to Trump – and that came in the form… of the voter registration forms that the League of Women Voters were handing out. The groups present at the rally showed the diversity of NYC and those that were victim to gun violence.

Gun Control Protest Outside The NRA Convention

May 7, 2018 By Andrea Germanos, Commondreams.org , ,
Countering the messaging emanating from the National Rifle Association's convention across the street, a student-organized protest took place in Dallas on Saturday to denounce the powerful lobbying group's "dangerous agenda." The "Rally 4 Reform," organized by StudentsMarch.org, brought together advocates for common sense gun reform who rallied outside City Hall. The event was just across the street from the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, where the NRA's gathering—which promises a "weekend of fellowship and fun!"—is underway. "Our generation is the post-Columbine generation," organizer Waed Alhayek from the University of Texas at Arlington told KERA News. "We've seen tragedy after tragedy after tragedy," she said. "After the Parkland students stood up, even older people are saying, 'Why have we accepted thoughts and prayers?' on Twitter."

Students Lead ‘March For Our Lives’ Against Gun Violence

March 25, 2018 By John Zangas and Anne Meador, DC Media Group , ,
High school students joined hands to lead over a half a million demonstrators in the “March For Our Lives” anti-gun protest on Saturday. They decried gun violence in their schools and criticized the National Rifle Association (NRA) response to mass shootings that have swept the country in recent years. They delivered a message to politicians funded by the gun lobby that they will “never again” let mass shootings happen because of easy access to guns. The vast numbers and intense feelings pervading the march may signal that an absolutist view of “gun rights”—that the Second Amendment is inviolable and should be allowed to trump students’ safety at school—will no longer be tolerated in the mainstream. Among the March’s demands are a moratorium on AR-15 assault weapons, a ban on bump stocks and other devices which render guns into fully automatic weapons, mandatory background checks and an increase in the age of eligibility to purchase guns.

Students Organizing For ‘March For Our Lives’ And More

March 23, 2018 By Emily C. Bell, AlterNet ,
These students are not just mobilizing their peers to fill the streets this weekend, but to change laws. Guided by the messaging of the national March For Our Lives, the students are calling for universal background checks, banning high-capacity magazines and ending the sale of assault weapons. Student organizers across the country voiced frustration with inaction from their representatives, but are prepared to take on leadership where their elected officials will not. “If adults aren’t going to end this, if Congress isn’t going to end this, if everyone’s just going to keep talking in circles, then we’ll stand up and we’ll fix this ourselves, we’ll do the work where adults haven’t been willing to,” Pierce said.

Nationwide Mass Student Walk Out Over Gun Violence

March 15, 2018 Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance , ,
Wednesday, March 14, was one month after the Parkland school massacre in Florida. Students from more than 3,100 schools marked the event with a National Walkout day. Estimates are more than one million students walked out of their classrooms at 10:00 am. Many students planned to walk out of class for 17 minutes — one for every person killed during the horrific mass killing. The students demanded gun law reforms to show solidarity with the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida where the attack occurred on Valentine's Day.

Gun Laws Since Sandy Hook Have Favored The Gun Lobby

March 5, 2018 By Matt Vasilogambros, Pewtrusts.org , , ,
In the two weeks since the Florida school massacre, state lawmakers around the country have introduced bills to ban bump stocks, ban assault weapons, and expand background checks — and also to arm teachers, lighten penalties for carrying without a permit, and waive handgun permit fees. If history foretells, the gun-rights bills will have a better chance at success. In the years since Sandy Hook, when 26 were slain in 2012, states have enacted nearly 600 new gun laws, according to data compiled separately by the National Rifle Association and the Giffords Law Center to Reduce Gun Violence. Nearly two-thirds of those were backed by the NRA. It is “indisputably true” that there have been far more new laws that loosen gun restrictions than tighten them, said Michael Hammond, the legislative counsel at Gun Owners of America, a Virginia-based “no compromise” gun lobbying organization.

Freedom Rider: Why The Shooting Will Continue

March 2, 2018 Margaret Kimberley, Blackagendareport.com , , ,
Apparently there is nothing worse in America than the act of shooting white people. Ever since the latest attack at a Florida high school there has been talk of little else. The school shooting enveloped every other issue and was used to vilify Russia, the FBI, Bernie Sanders and the National Rifle Association all at once. One cannot watch a Youtube video without being subjected to the NRA’s public relations juggernaut meant to quiet a population which had forgotten about shootings for a while. America has a unique history with firearms. The settler colonial state enshrined gun ownership into the constitution because of a determination to maintain chattel slavery and the violent enforcement which had to go with it.

Gun Lobby Meets Match With Economic Protests

February 26, 2018 Rob Cox, Reuters.com , , ,
NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) - The day before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, he delivered a speech widely remembered for its closing passage, when the reverend said he was unafraid to die because he had “been to the mountaintop.” Few seem to recall an earlier part of his oration where King exhorted African-Americans to use their purchasing power, and specifically boycott Coca-Cola, Wonder Bread and Sealtest milk. Many successful civil-rights movements have adopted some type of economic protest. Consider Gandhi’s 24-day march from an ashram near Ahmedabad to the coastal town of Dandi to harvest sea salt in an act of nonviolent resistance against the salt monopoly imposed by India’s British colonizers.

Gun Control Protest Inside And Outside US Senate

November 9, 2017 Jacob Ogles, advocate.com , ,
By Jacob Ogles for Advocate - Capitol Police arrested seven members of Gays Against Guns after the group staged an ACT UP-style die-in at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Monday. The protests occurred the day after yet another mass shooting, this time leaving 26 dead at a Texas church. Members of the group today brought their disruption to the offices of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who each have lost constituents in mass shootings but maintain A ratings with the National Rifle Association. “We knew we were risking arrest,” said Tim Murphy, a member of GAG NYC. “But we are holding them accountable as puppets of the NRA.” Those arrested include Murphy, Mari Gustafson, John Grauwiler, Natalie James, Lewis Bossing, Michael Adolph, and John Becker. Murphy tells The Advocate that protesters conducted a die-in at the atrium for the Hart building, and video shows the individuals writhing around like wounded gunshot victims, chanting “how many more have to die.” The disruption, which included protesters loudly shouting, “You’re killing us with money from the NRA,” went on for about 10 minutes before police asked protesters to leave. When the protestors refused to do so, arrests began. Murphy says GAG members did not resist arrest. Each one was detained for a matter of hours by police and charged a $50 fine before being released.

Will US Learn From Australia? Stricter Gun Control Laws Save Lives

October 4, 2017 Rebecca Peters, www.theguardian.com , , ,
By Rebecca Peters for The Guardian - The mass murder in Newtown Connecticut a year ago caused shock and sorrow all around the world. In Australia it also revived memories of our own horror on a similar scale, when dozens of people innocently going about their day were gunned down by a disturbed young man. Our tragedy occurred in 1996 at the Port Arthur historic site in Tasmania, one of Australia's most popular tourist destinations. The dead numbered 35, with more than 20 others injured. The victims ranged in age from 3 to 72. They included children, teens, adults and seniors; tourists and local workers; several couples, a pair of brothers, a mother and her two little daughters, and members of a retirees' club on an outing. This was not the first shooting massacre we had suffered, but it was the largest in living memory. The tragedy ignited an explosion of public outrage, soul-searching and demands for better regulation of guns. We changed our laws. As a result, gun deaths in Australia have dropped by two-thirds, and we have never had another mass shooting. Every country is unique, but Australia is more similar to the US than is, say, Japan or England. We have a frontier history and a strong gun culture. Each state and territory has its own gun laws, and in 1996 these varied widely between the jurisdictions.

Minimum Wage, Marijuana, Gun Control & Other Issues Win Voters’ Approval

November 13, 2016 Liz Essley Whyte, www.publicintegrity.org , , , , , , , ,
By Liz Essley Whyte for the Center for Public Integrity. Despite massive losses for Democrats in races from the White House to governors’ offices Tuesday, those on the left celebrated some significant victories with state ballot measures. From marijuana to minimum wage to gun control laws, they won many key initiatives among the 162 statewide measures — part of a concerted plan put in motion more than a year ago to circumvent Republican-led legislatures and take policy questions directly to voters. Progressive advocates appeared to lose major healthcare initiatives in California and Colorado, however. The Center for Public Integrity tracked how those fighting over these measures shaped their messages with TV ads, typically an expensive yet far-reaching endeavor. Media tracker Kantar Media/CMAG estimates that more than $384 million was spent through Monday just to air TV ads about such measures this election.
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