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."
Do you have a source for that quote from Franklin?
If it weren't for "the people" with weapons there would have been no revolutionary war. The farmers and laborers who made of the militia brought their own guns to the fight. Our new military didn't have large numbers of weapons to issue to soldiers either so many of those were personal weapons.
Do you have an attribution for that quote? The internet is full of bogus gun quotes that were never said by our founding fathers, and it gets to be a problem, weeding them out after they are repeated and take on a life of their own.
I've never seen that quote by Franklin on any list of quotes, and believe me, I've seen a lot of lists. I've also been burned by using some quotes (one supposedly by Jefferson comes to mind) which was absolutely proven to be bogus. A famous bogus quote (not) by Hitler also springs to mind.
You got it, Joe. And nothing fires up the commoners like these knuckleheads starting their anti-gun rubbish. Gun ownership, the death penalty, freedom of expression and religion are where I hang my hat.
Wrong Brady got shot.
Hey, I've SEEN that "Rising Tide" before, swirling
round and round , moving ever higher till it finally
reaches critical mass then lumps and all it flows out
over the bathroom floor.
LOL!!!
I care(to know the enemy). Many politicians care. That's why we all need to be vigilant. The gun grabbers will never give up.
Haven't heard anything from the anti-gun nuts for a while. Must be time for a fund-raiser, but it won't fly. Even the gun-grabber MSM hasn't been running anti-gun propaganda, since they know nobody cares, and it just stirs up the pro-gun rights crowd.
They're Communists. They said they'd try to take the U.S. from within. They've made quite a few inroads already. We're not turning them away fast enough.
To me, a "gun crime" is using the wrong kind of bore brush and scratching up the barrel.
Went to the range today. About 30 club members there. I asked for a moment of silence so we could hear the "clamoring." Strange. Just the sounds of birds and insects. We had a good laugh and returned to firing.
You forgot the little tidbit of old Sarah herself buying a rifle for her son last year.
So what! Is Yahoo the end all and be all of reference sources? Look to post no12 that I indicated as being quoted. It was the sentiment that I was agreeing with, as you also say that you concur.
Why in the hell don't you just dispense with the escort of words in your post and simply call me what was the intent of your post: "stupid".
Ummmnnnhhh...Milwaukee's had a few shootings (12 in 12 hours last weekend)--but no "rising tide" noises.
Most folks have figured out that the Bad Guys have the guns and there's not a helluvalot they can do about that.
Duluth, MN., hardly qualifies as a "community."
Aside from polar bears, wolves, and what, 50K people, there's not much there...
Another false quote is the often-used "liberty teeth" quote by George Washington.
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