Thursday, January 29, 2015

VIOLENCE USA NEWSLETTER #9

Sent to Blog, WS, indivs
OMNI
VIOLENCE USA NEWSLETTER #9, January 29, 2015.
Compiled by Dick Bennett, OMNI BUILDING A
CULTURE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE.
(#1 Feb. 25, 2008; #2 August 20, 2011; #3 April 8, 2012; #4 July 26, 2012; #5 Aug. 22, 2012; #6 June 8, 2013; #7 Nov. 7, 2013; #8 March 24, 2014)
160940 pageviews - 1479 posts, last published on Jan 14, 2015 

What’s at stake:  Instead of a Frontier solution to violence, let’s dig some wells
 of understanding.  How does violence originate?  What is the connection among the many kinds of violence?
 Is violence systemic, a part of a culture (or absent from it)?  Is violence intrinsic to our economic system
 of individualistic profit-making?  How do US militarism and imperialism promote personal violence?

Here is the link to all OMNI newsletters:
http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/  Here is the link to the Index           :  http://www.omnicenter.org/omni-newsletter-general-index/   Many of OMNI’s topical newsletters confront different kinds of violence:   assassinations, battering, bullying, causes of wars, consequences of wars, death penalty, domestic violence, drones, empire, extra-judicial killing, hatred,  individual wars, International DAY to End Violence Against Women, militarism, torture, women, etc.  Also see the newsletters on resistance to violence:   Gandhi, MLK,Jr., Peace Churches, Peace Organizations, Dept. of Peace (proposed), nonviolence, conflict resolution, diplomacy, negotiation, peacemakers, UN, compassion, etc.

See OMNI Police Violence Newsletter: http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/
(#1 August 17, 2014; #2 September 3, 2014; #3 November 24, 2014)


Gun Violence USA Newsletter Nos. 6-8 at end.

Contents: Gun Violence USA Newsletter #9

Arkansas
Willems, Republican Gun-Advocate Legislator Charlie Collins Returns
Professors Speak Up Against Arming Teachers:
  Sam Totten
  Sidney Burris and Steve Boss
  Doug Krueger

Nation: Guns on Campus
Guns on Campus, Google Search
Utah Teacher Accidentally Wounds Herself in School Bathroom

Nation and World:  Gun Violence          
PBS Frontline, “Gunned Down: the Power of the NRA”
Newtown Foundation, 2nd National Vigil for Victims of Gun Violence
TomGram and Jones, Nation Gone Crazy
Guns and Murders, US v. Britain
Nobel Charter for a World Without Violence


ARKANSAS

Guns-on-campus push rekindled[DB1] 
Fayetteville legislator wants to take schools out of decision
By Spencer Willems  1-16-15
This article was published today at 1:00 a.m.
·         Comment (1)
http://media.arkansasonline.com/img/photos/2015/01/16/55415188_AN-LEG-CONTACTS-COLLINS-1-12_t300.jpg?8aff03de2423e912a2467e97388a07f5331c05b6
A Northwest Arkansas legislator is trying again to require public universities and colleges to allow staff members with concealed-weapon permits to carry firearms on campus.
On Thursday, Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, filed House Bill 1077, arguing the state's 33 public higher education campuses would be safer if employees had guns with them.
"There are crazy killers that make the decision to try and harm our loved ones on college campuses, and for some of these crazy killers, the reason is there are a lot of innocent lives that are vulnerable," Collins said. "[Killers] know they won't be surprised by someone there being armed; they know that conceal-and-carry is banned on campuses."
Currently, the 173,349 conceal-and-carry permits don't allow weapons to be carried in some places such as polling stations, courthouses and sporting events.
Since 2013, permit-holding staff members can carry on public college campuses if the schools choose to allow it. So far, no school has done so.
It's the third time Collins filed such legislation. In 2013, he said he was forced to amend the bill, which eventually became law, that authorized the concealed weapons unless schools took action to prohibit them.
According to Department of Higher Education Director Shane Broadway, all of them did. Guns aren't allowed at the 33 public campuses save for certified law enforcement officers.
Broadway declined to comment on Collins' most recent legislation but said he has forwarded a copy of the bill to school officials.
Under Collins' legislation, the state's 11 private colleges and universities still would be given the option to bar weapons.
The president of Arkansas' Independent Colleges and Universities, Rex Nelson, said administrators aren't seeking to increase the number of weapons on campus.
"[Member schools found that] the safest policy is that firearms [on campus] only be in the possession of certified law enforcement officers," Nelson said.
Several college and university presidents and chancellors were unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon.
But Charles Welch, the Arkansas State University System president, indicated his campuses are no more inclined to allow more guns on campus than they were two years ago.
"Just as we did in the last legislative session, we have reservations about concealed weapons on campus," Welch said in a statement. "We were appreciative of [Collins] for allowing our board of trustees to consider campus views on this issue. The law enforcement personnel, faculty, staff, and students on our campuses have all been in agreement against concealed weapons. We would appreciate continuing to have the opportunity to opt out."
Asked whether a third attempt might be successful, Collins said given the new, more conservative makeup of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the bill has a more receptive audience.
"The group in [the Legislature now] are stronger gun owners' rights advocates," Collins said. "I think more of the people that are here now see this issue more like I do."
Collins said similar efforts in other states have been largely unsuccessful. He thinks passage of the law in Arkansas could be a "beacon and leading light" to the rest of the nation.
Asked whether he expected the same objections from state schools that were raised in past years, Collins said the states' schools are subject to the will of the people and its elected officials.
"The people of Arkansas sent more people to Little Rock who believe in protecting the Second Amendment rights of Arkansans than the people had sent previously," he said. "The elections might be the data point to show where mindsets are shifting a bit."
NW News on 01/16/2015



Samuel Totten  1-17-15
Should Concealed Handguns Be Allowed on Campus Other than in the Hands of Trained Police Officers? The Answer is NO!
            As a recently retired professor from the University of Arkansas, where I taught and conducted research for 25 years (1987-2012)[B1] , I find Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, proposed legislation that would require public universities and colleges to allow licensed faculty and staff members to carry concealed handguns on campus not only alarming but muddleheaded. Collins essentially argues that by allowing faculty to carry concealed handguns on campus it is likely to deter [B2] “crazy killers” from attacking (wounding and killing) innocent people on college campuses. One has to wonder whether Collins has spent any time at all considering the dangers that might ensue should faculty and staff choose to “strap up” on campus. (More on that in a moment.)
            Tellingly, thanks to Collin’s efforts (this is the third bill he has introduced to the Arkansas House of Representatives dealing with the issue of allowing professors to carry handguns on college campuses), “since 2013, permit-holding staff members can carry on public college campuses if the schools choose to allow it. So far, no school has done so” (italics added) (Willems, 2015, n.p.). Collins acknowledged that in 2013, “he was forced to amend the bill, which eventually became law, that authorized the concealed weapons unless schools took action to prohibit them” (Willems 2015, n.p.). In his article, “Guns-on-Campus Push Rekindled,” Jeff Willems (2015) notes that “According to Department of Higher Education Director Shane Broadway, all of them did. Guns aren't allowed at the 33 public campuses save for certified law enforcement officers.” Now Collins, via HB 1077, is attempting to get around that “barrier.” Essentially, he does not want universities and colleges to have a say in the matter; rather, he wants to allow each professor and staff member to make his/her own decision in regard to whether he/she will carry a concealed handgun on campus. Let’s hope that the third time is not the charm.
            Has Collins played out the scores of scenarios we might see on college or university campuses if such a bill is passed? I don’t think so.
            Just off the top of my head, here are just over a half dozen that should frighten anyone who has ever stepped onto a college/university campus:
·  First, the accidental mishandling of guns is nothing new. Just one simple mistake  (dropping the weapon, grabbing the trigger by mistake, etc.) and a pistol could fire and possibly wound, if not kill, someone.
·  Second, unless a faculty and/or staff member is going to carry the weapon in a holster, there is a better than even chance that someone, sometime will come across the weapon. That opens up a whole slew of scenarios in which other faculty members, staff members or even students could end up picking up a weapon, thus opening up the possibility that the weapon could be mishandled and result in a tragedy.
·  Third, what if two or more faculty or staff members reacted to what they believe are gunshots, pull their own weapons and mistakenly take each other as one of those “crazy killers,” and fires off a round or two and wounds or kills the other person?
·  Fourth, there is always the possibility that if one does use his/her weapon on campus that the rounds will hit an innocent party. This is particularly true on a crowded campus, whether it be out in the open or in the corridors of a building.
·  Fifth, there is always the possibility that the gun could be stolen and used illegally by the culprit who stole the weapon, just increasing the chance of “gunplay” on a campus.
·  Sixth, in our litigious society, a university would be opening itself up to a slew of lawsuits should a faculty or staff member ever accidentally wound or kill a student or fellow faculty or staff member.
·  Seventh, it is not unheard of for faculty members to get into very heated arguments, sometimes to the point of almost engaging in fisticuffs. Likewise, it is not unheard of having faculty or staff members on college/university campuses who have mental problems and or are hotheads or lacking in commonsense.  [B3] 
One could go on and on delineating possible scenarios. But what is the need or point?
So, should concealed handguns be allowed on a campus other than in the hands of trained police officers? The answer is a resounding NO!
 References
Willems, Spencer (2015). “Guns-on-Campus Rekindled.” Arkansas Democrat Gazette. January 15, 2015. Accessed at: www.arkansasonline.com/.../fayetteville-legislator-rekindles-guns-/
 [B1]redundant
 [B2]will likely deter
 [B3]Seventh, there is the risk of arguments escalating to violence that could involve a deadly weapon.


BURRIS AND BOSS[DB2] 
Dear Folks:  

As the Education Committee moves closer to discussing the gun-bill, we need to raise our voices. 

My colleague, SK Boss has an op-ed in today's DemGaz, which you can access here, if you have subscription: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/jan/29/for-common-sense-20150129/?f=opinion

I have another blog posting that speaks purely from the teacher's perspective—no stats, no numbers, just a response to the prospect of a militarized classroom. You can find that one here:  http://bit.ly/teacherstake.

Please read when you have time & even more importantly, share these links. It's important that we get our opinions moving now. 

Thanks very much,

Sidney


DOUG KRUEGER, “GUN COMMENTS AT COLLEGE FORUM BACKED UP.”  Northwest Arkansas Times (April 27, 2014). 
“. . .the futility of the gun owner fantasy that a well-armed college faculty and staff would make the campus safer. . . .there is a wealth of solid evidence showing that increased civilian gun ownership and gun availability makes us less safe, n
ot more safe.”  Krueger gives diverse statistics:  violent crime has decreased since, in 2013 18 deaths out of over 20 million people, while accidental shootings kill 600.


GUNS ON CAMPUS Google Search, January 16, 2015
Case against Guns on Campus, The - ‎Siebel - Cited by 13
Guns and gun threats at college - ‎Miller - Cited by 58
In the news
Arkansas Online - 3 hours ago
Guns aren't allowed at the 33 public campuses save for certified law enforcement officers.
The News-Press - 2 days ago
My Fox Boston - 14 hours ago
www.ncsl.org/.../guns-on-camp...
o     
National Conference of State Legislatures
Overview of state laws concerning guns on college campuses.
keepgunsoffcampus.org/
o     
The Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus Issues Statement on Florida State University Shooting. At November 20, 2014. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. November ...
www.armedcampuses.org/
o     
A guide for students & parents: review our list of colleges and universities in the United States forced to allow guns on campus. Find your state now.
Colorado - ‎Utah - ‎Texas - ‎Arkansas
concealedcampus.org/
o     
Dec 11, 2014 - Advocating for the Right to Self-Defense on Campus.
www.forbes.com/sites/collegeprose/2013/02/21/guns-on-campus/
Forbes
Feb 21, 2013 - Proposed legislation in some states would require colleges to permit concealed firearms on campus, but such laws would only make our ...
www.tampabay.com/...guns-on-campus/2207937
Tampa Bay Times
Nov 25, 2014 - "But the reality is, there is a ban of guns on campus, and that did not stop an attacker. The law never stops the bad guy. It only stops the good ...
www.motherjones.com/.../gun-laws-college-campus-lone-st...
Mother Jones
Jan 23, 2013 - Does your state allow concealed guns on college campuses? Hover over an individual state for further details. (Also see lists below the map.) ...
12.                Texas Guns on Campus - Huffington Post
www.huffingtonpost.com/.../texas-guns-on-campus/
The Huffington Post
Gun rights advocates experienced a win Tuesday when the Texas Senate voted to allow students to keep guns in their cars on college campuses. The b.
Searches related to Guns on Campus


“ACCIDENTAL GUNFIRE INJURES UTAH TEACHER.”  Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Sept. 12, 2014).
An elementary school teacher was wounded when she accidentally fired her concealed firearm in the faculty bathroom.
“Utah  is among the few states that allow people with concealed-weapons permits to carry guns in public schools.”


"Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA" - Preview(0:31) On Jan. 6, FRONTLINE takes you inside the politics and the power of the NRA.
Press Release | FRONTLINE Investigates the Unrivaled Political Power of the NRA
December 11, 2014, 12:04 pm ET
0
Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA
pbs.org/frontline/gunned-down
Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, at 10 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings)
www.facebook.com/frontline | Twitter: @frontlinepbs #GunnedDown
Instagram: @frontlinepbs | YouTube: youtube.com/frontline
In December of 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 26 children and adults with a Bushmaster rifle before taking his own life with a handgun.
The tragedy shocked the nation, sparking an outpouring of grief and widespread calls from the public for politicians to “do something” about guns. The moment, it seemed, was gun control advocates’ to seize. But like many times before, they ran into intense opposition from a powerful political force: the National Rifle Association (NRA).
On January 6, FRONTLINE presents Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA — an investigation into the NRA, its political evolution and influence, and how it has consistently succeeded in defeating new gun control legislation.
“We’ve investigated the history of how — even after Newtown, even after the shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords — gun control has become a ‘third rail’ in American politics, with the issue essentially off the table nationally,” says veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk (Losing IraqUnited States of SecretsLeague of DenialBush’s War). “It’s been a bruising, bare-knuckles battle fought over decades, and the NRA has won.”
Drawing on interviews with leading voices on both sides of the gun regulation debate,Gunned Down goes inside one of the country’s greatest divides to illuminate how the NRA reinvented itself from a group of gun enthusiasts and sportsmen with minimal political focus, to a powerful lobbying force opposing any perceived infringement of the constitutional right to bear arms.
“The base of the National Rifle Association believes so strongly it’s more a religion,” former NRA Executive Vice President Warren Cassidy tells FRONTLINE.
“It really has nothing to do with guns; it has to do with freedom,” former NRA spokesman John Aquilino tells FRONTLINE. “Do you give your freedom to the government or do you keep it within yourself, within your community, within your family? And that’s the broad appeal.”
FRONTLINE traces the emergence of one of the NRA’s top leaders, Wayne LaPierre, and explores how he has activated the group’s influential base in the wake of mass shootings. FRONTLINE sits down with Congressional leaders, present and former White House officials, Vice President Joe Biden, and gun-rights and gun-control advocates. The film also features firsthand accounts from family members of mass shooting victims, including Newtown.
“They had what I think any reasonable expectation would be … ‘We have just been through the worst gun event in history of the United States. And something surely is going to change,’” Matt Bennett, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton on gun issues, tells FRONTLINE.
Gunned Down traces what happened next, and why.
“In Washington, they say that the NRA came out of Newtown stronger than ever,” Kirk says. “This is a story for anyone who wonders how that could be.”
Gunned Down — the crucial history of how the NRA came to dominate the gun debate — airs Tuesday, January 6 at 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and will stream in full, for free, online at pbs.org/frontline.
###
Credits
Gunned Down is a FRONTLINE production with the Kirk Documentary Group. The producers are Michael Kirk, Jim Gilmore and Mike Wiser. The director is Michael Kirk. The writers are Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser. The reporter is Jim Gilmore. The deputy executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is David Fanning.
About FRONTLINE
FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 69 Emmy Awards and 16 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on TwitterFacebookInstagram,YouTube, and Google+ to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation.


LINK SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 JIM HODSON  [This event happened 2014,  but anticipates 2015.  --D]
NATIONAL VIGIL FOR ALL VICTIMS of GUN VIOLENCE — DEC. 11,  2014
By the 2nd anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings, an estimated 60,000 more Americans will have died from gun violence.
Help us shine a light on this tragic toll. Join The Newtown Foundation, States United to Prevent Gun Violence, Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence and the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., in supporting a national vigil to honor and give voice to ALLvictims and survivors of gun violence.  Together we can make a difference.
Together in Sorrow.  Together in Action. 
50-State Vigils Nationwide.
Look up time and places in your state here. Vigil Details
We are asking faith organizations and gun violence prevention groups to hold concurrent vigils in each of the 50 states.  Please sign up here to host a vigil in your state and we will send you a Vigil Tool Kit.
You are cordially invited to attend the 2nd Annual National Vigil for All Gun Violence Victims
What:  By December 2014, the 2nd anniversary of the Newtown shootings, more than 60,000 Americans nationwide will have died from gunshot wounds. We must continue to shine a light on the epidemic of gun violence in our nation until these gun deaths are reduced. The Newtown Foundation in partnership with the Washington National Cathedral, States United to Prevent Gun Violence and Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence will host a 2nd annual national vigil service of mourning and loving remembrance for all who have fallen victim to the ongoing epidemic of gun violence in America on December 11th in Washington D.C. -near the 2nd anniversary date of the Sandy Hook tragedy.  Please join families of victims of gun violence and special guests in honoring all Americans affected by gun violence.
When:  December 11, 2014 from 3:00-4:30PM
Where:  Washington National Cathedral: 3101 Wisconsin Ave NW  Washington, DC 20016


TomDispatch tomdispatch@nationinstitute.org via uark.edu 
8:16 AM (22 minutes ago)
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to James
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TomDispatch.com: A Regular Antidote to the Mainstream Media



One of the grimmer small events of recent American life occurred just as 2014 was ending.  A mother had her two-year old toddler perched in a shopping cart at an Idaho Wal-Mart.  He reached into her purse, specially made for carrying a concealed firearm (and a Christmas gift from her husband), found his mother’s pistol in it, pulled it out, and shot and killed her.  And she wasn’t the only victim of a child who came upon a loaded weapon.  Between 2007 and 2011, at least 62 children 14 or younger died in similarly nightmarish accidents with loaded weapons.

Nor was this specific incident an anomaly.  In fact, if you are an American, you are statistically in less danger of dying from a terrorist attack in this country than from a toddler shooting you. And by the way, you’re 2,059 times more likely to die by your own hand with a weapon of your choosing than in a terrorist attack anywhere on Earth.  You’re also more than nine times as likely to be killed by a police officer as by a terrorist.

And remind me, how many American taxpayer dollars have gone into “security” from terrorism and how many into security from weaponry?  You know the answer to that.  In fact, guns of just about every variety seem to circulate ever more freely in this country as the populace up-armors itself in yet more ways.  Think of it as a kind of arms race.  Emboldened by the National Rifle Association (NRA), Americans are ever more weaponized.  There were an estimated 300-310 million guns in the U.S. in 2009 (a figure that hasundoubtedly risen), and up to four million Americans now own assault rifles -- one popular weapon of choice, by the way, for mass killers.  In the meantime, the percentage of Americans who favor a ban on handguns (25%) has fallen to an all-time low.

As for “carrying,” it’s now legal in every state in America and allowed in ever more situations as well.  In the last year, for instance, Idaho, where that mother died, became the seventh state to green-light the carrying of concealed guns on college campuses.  To put all this in perspective, less than two decades ago, fewer than a million concealed weapons were being legally carried in the U.S.; now, more than one million people are permitted to carry such weapons in Florida alone.  In twenty-first-century America, the “right to bear arms” has been extended in every direction, while there has also been a “sharp rise” in mass killings.

Meanwhile -- since what’s an arms race without a second party? -- the police, mainlining into the Pentagon, have been up-armoring at a staggering pace.  It’s no longer an oddity for American police officers to be armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers as if in a foreign war zone or to arrive on the scene with a mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle previously used in our distant wars.  And by the way, while much anger has been displayed, by the police in particular, over the recent murders of two patrolmen in Brooklyn by a disturbed man carrying a Taurus semiautomatic handgun, that anger seems not to extend to his ability to arm himself or to thepawnshop filled with weaponry that originally sold the gun (but not to him).

One mistake you shouldn’t make, however, is to imagine that Americans consider the right to bear arms universal.  Just consider, for example, the CIA’s “signature drone strikes” in Pakistan and elsewhere.  Over the last two presidencies, the Agency has gained the “right” to drone-kill young men of military age bearing arms -- in societies where arms-bearing, as here, is the norm -- about whom nothing specific is known except that they seem to be in the wrong place at the right time.  The NRA, curiously enough, has chosen not to defend them.

If, to a visitor from Mars or even (as TomDispatch regular Ann Jones points out) Europe, all this might seem like the definition of madness, it's also increasingly the definition of a way of life in this country.  What was once the “tool” of law enforcement types, the military, and hunters is now the equivalent of an iPhone, a talisman of connection and social order.  It’s something that just about anyone can put in a pocket, a purse, or simply strap on in the full light of day in a land where all of us, even toddlers, seem to be heading for the O.K. Corral.  Jones, author of They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return From America’s Wars -- The Untold Story, has seen her share of carnage and experienced her share of stress.  Today, however, she considers another kind of stress, the pressure to explain to others a country whose citizens don’t even notice how inexplicable they are becoming. Tom
Is This Country Crazy? 
Inquiring Minds Elsewhere Want to Know 
By Ann Jones
Americans who live abroad -- more than six million of us worldwide (not counting those who work for the U.S. government) -- often face hard questions about our country from people we live among. Europeans, Asians, and Africans ask us to explain everything that baffles them about the increasingly odd and troubling conduct of the United States.  Polite people, normally reluctant to risk offending a guest, complain that America’s trigger-happiness, cutthroat free-marketeering, and “exceptionality” have gone on for too long to be considered just an adolescent phase. Which means that we Americans abroad are regularly asked to account for the behavior of our rebranded “homeland,” now conspicuously in decline and increasingly out of step with the rest of the world.
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(54:10) PBS FRONTLINE “Gunned Down” investigates the politics and power of the NRA.

FEATURED FROM THIS REPORT
·         January 6, 2015, 9:27 pmHow Loaded is the Gun Lobby?
·         January 6, 2015, 9:26 pmNRA Insiders on the Politics of Guns
·         January 6, 2015, 9:26 pmNewtown Divided
THE LATEST
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From the NRA’s political evolution, to the group’s relationship with firearm manufacturers, “Gunned Down” filmmaker Michael Kirk answers your questions.
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As FRONTLINE reveals in “Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA,” premiering tonight on PBS stations and online, the NRA’s executive vice president wasn’t always a gun enthusiast.
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We’ll kick off 2015 with an investigation of the power of the NRA and an examination of Vladimir Putin’s rise.
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The gun-rights lobby still holds the edge when it comes to gun policy in America, but gun-control advocates say they’re starting to gain some momentum.
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“Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA” premieres Jan. 6 on FRONTLINE.
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On Jan. 6, veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk explores the power and politics of the NRA.
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In the wake of Sandy Hook, the gun-rights lobby outspent, out-organized and out-maneuvered gun-control advocates at both the state and federal level.
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Pro-gun moderates are quietly using background checks to expand gun rights.
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More than 1,000 new bills have been proposed at the state level since Newtown. What’s happening in your state?
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You’ve heard of the NRA. Now meet the gun industry’s lobby, based in Newtown, Conn.
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While conventional wisdom suggests that an individual’s right to bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the Constitution, it is, in fact, a relatively recent interpretation, according to New Yorker writer and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.



2nd Annual
National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence to
#EndGunViolence


By December 2014, the 2nd anniversary of the Newtown shootings,
more than 60,000 Americans nationwide will have died from gunshot wounds. As Americans we are all affected by gun violence. That is why we must keep the focus on the shame and tragedy of gun violence in our nation and why we must ask our leaders to take action.

To that end, the Newtown Foundation in partnership with the Washington National Cathedral, States United to Prevent Gun Violence and Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence will host a National Vigil to #EndGunViolence. We will meet in loving remembrance of victims and in determination to save lives moving forward. This important National Cathedral event will kick off a weekend of over 100 local vigils and related activities nationwide. Please join families of victims of gun violence and special guests in honoring all Americans affected by gun violence to help make America safer for our children and our families. 

December 11, 2014
3:00-4:30PM
Washington National Cathedral
3101 Wisconsin Ave NW Washington, DC 20016

If you are from the DC metropolitan area, please RSVP here.
If you need transportation from Newtown or other US cities/towns and/or you are interested in participating in Newtown Foundation/Newtown Action Alliance activities while in DC on December 10th and 11th, please register here.  
Sponsored by:  




Copyright © *2014* *The Newtown Foundation*, All rights reserved.

ABOUT NEWTOWN FOUNDATION
The Newtown Foundation is a Newtown-based, all volunteer organization formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Our mission is “To provide comfort, education, scholarship and other support and resources to people and communities impacted by, and living or growing up among or in the aftermath, of violence in American society; and to help them lead the way toward positive cultural change over the long term.”

The Newtown Foundation, Inc. is a 501c3 not for profit organization. Donations to The Newtown Foundation are tax deductible.

Our mailing address is: 
P.O. Box 3325, Newtown CT 06470

Open Carrying War-Grade Weapons into Your Local Target
Sidney Burris
Jun 24, 2014 (6 days ago)


Dear Folks:

As you've probably seen, the Open Carry Texas movement has been attracting a lot of attention as its member have been showing up at fast-food restaurants and stores like Target, openly carrying war-grade weaponry.  

Recently, they posted a 4:00 instructional video for how to handle your weapon in an open-carry demonstration.  Read my take on it here:


This video has been getting a lot of attention lately. Thanks for your attention to this posting!

Best Wishes,  SB

Contact

Recent Related OMNI Newsletters


Contents: Violence USA #8
Murder Victims’ Families in Arkansas, Monthly Meeting
NRA
Totten,  Epidemic of Gun Violence
Burris, Gunsense, More on Open-carry: http://bit.ly/OCcamus
Powell,  Anarchist Cookbook’s Violent Premise Flawed
Levintova, Pro-Gun Groups Challenge Fire Arms Laws
Moyers and Winship, After Newtown the Killings Continue and Gun Purchases Increase
Strasser, 2014 Violence Continues
Burris, Gunsense, Meditation on Samsara
Google Search: Violence USA

??Reports in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
END VIOLENCE USA NEWSLETTER #9



Meanwhile -- since what’s an arms race without a second party? -- the police, mainlining into the Pentagon, have been up-armoring at a staggering pace.  It’s no longer an oddity for American police officers to be armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers as if in a foreign war zone or to arrive on the scene with a mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle previously used in our distant wars.  And by the way, while much anger has been displayed, by the police in particular, over the recent murders of two patrolmen in Brooklyn by a disturbed man carrying a Taurus semiautomatic handgun, that anger seems not to extend to his ability to arm himself or to thepawnshop filled with weaponry that originally sold the gun (but not to him).

One mistake you shouldn’t make, however, is to imagine that Americans consider the right to bear arms universal.  Just consider, for example, the CIA’s “signature drone strikes” in Pakistan and elsewhere.  Over the last two presidencies, the Agency has gained the “right” to drone-kill young men of military age bearing arms -- in societies where arms-bearing, as here, is the norm -- about whom nothing specific is known except that they seem to be in the wrong place at the right time.  The NRA, curiously enough, has chosen not to defend them.

If, to a visitor from Mars or even (as TomDispatch regular Ann Jones points out) Europe, all this might seem like the definition of madness, it's also increasingly the definition of a way of life in this country.  What was once the “tool” of law enforcement types, the military, and hunters is now the equivalent of an iPhone, a talisman of connection and social order.  It’s something that just about anyone can put in a pocket, a purse, or simply strap on in the full light of day in a land where all of us, even toddlers, seem to be heading for the O.K. Corral.  Jones, author of They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return From America’s Wars -- The Untold Story, has seen her share of carnage and experienced her share of stress.  Today, however, she considers another kind of stress, the pressure to explain to others a country whose citizens don’t even notice how inexplicable they are becoming. Tom
Consider supporting TomDispatch by making a donation. Click here.
Is This Country Crazy? 
Inquiring Minds Elsewhere Want to Know 
By Ann Jones
Americans who live abroad -- more than six million of us worldwide (not counting those who work for the U.S. government) -- often face hard questions about our country from people we live among. Europeans, Asians, and Africans ask us to explain everything that baffles them about the increasingly odd and troubling conduct of the United States.  Polite people, normally reluctant to risk offending a guest, complain that America’s trigger-happiness, cutthroat free-marketeering, and “exceptionality” have gone on for too long to be considered just an adolescent phase. Which means that we Americans abroad are regularly asked to account for the behavior of our rebranded “homeland,” now conspicuously in decline and increasingly out of step with the rest of the world.
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58 Murders a Year by Firearms in Britain, 8,775 in US

By Juan Cole, Informed Comment   RSN, 22 July 12
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/335-156/12554-58-murders-a-year-by-firearms-in-britain-8775-in-us
 umber of Murders, United States, 2010: 12,996
Number of Murders by Firearms, US, 2010: 8,775

Number of Murders, Britain, 2011*:
638
(Since Britain's population is 1/5 that of US, this is equivalent to 3,095 US murders)

Number of Murders by firearms, Britain, 2011*:
58
(equivalent to 290 US murders)

Number of Murders by crossbow in Britain, 2011*:
2
(equivalent to 10 US murders).
For more on murder by firearms in Britain, see the BBC.
The international comparisons show conclusively that fewer gun owners per capita produce not only fewer murders by firearm, but fewer murders per capita overall. In the case of Britain, firearms murders are 30 times fewer than in the US per capita.

NOBEL CHARTER FOR A WORLD WITHOUT VIOLENCE
Charter for a World Without Violence

File Format: Microsoft Word - View as HTML
Charter for a World Without Violence. 8th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. “Violence is a preventable disease”. No state or individual can be secure ...
www.interactionassociates.com/ideas/Charter%20for%20a%20World%20Without%20Violence.doc - Similar pages - Note this

END VIOLENCE USA NEWSLETTER #9


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