It’s been 19 years since Columbine…
Those 12 kids would have been adults today, maybe with kids of their own. We can never know what talents were lost to us that day, and continue to be lost every year since then to gun violence.
Here, he reads the list of fatal school shootings since Columbine.
We really like this summation from WTF Just Happened Today about the reactions of those concerned….
Trump, in a tweet, suggested that students and neighbors should have reported the Florida shooter to authorities, because there were “so many signs” that the shooter “was mentally disturbed.” The FBI was warned in September about a possible school shooting after a YouTube user named Nikolas Cruz – the same name as the shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School – left a comment that read: “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” The FBI said it had investigated the comment, but was unable to identify the person who posted it. (NBC News / CNN / BBC)
- Trump’s budget would cut millions of dollars from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which gun dealers use to verify if someone is banned from buying a gun before selling it to them. (HuffPost)
- One of Trump’s first actions as president was to undo a regulation that would have made it more difficult for people with a known mental illness to buy guns by requiring their names to be entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Nikolas Cruz legally purchased the AR-15. (ABC News)
- (from IV) The GOP health bill (AHCA), if it had passed, would have removed a requirement set forth in the ACA that mandated Medicaid to cover basic mental and behavioral (including substance-related) health services, beginning in 2020. This would have threatened the care that over 1.28 million people grappling with mental health issues receive thanks to Medicaid’s expansion. (psychologytoday). Although Trump is now calling for spending on mental health care in the wake of this shooting, his budget is advocating for sharp Medicaid cuts which will decimate mental health care. The right hand giveth a little, the left hand taketh away a lot. (nbc )
2/ A student who witnessed the shooting called out lawmakers on TV, looking directly into the camera and saying: “We’re children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together, come over your politics, and get something done.” He added: “Ideas are great but without action, ideas stay ideas and children die.” (CNN)
3/ The leader of a white supremacist group said the gunman in the Florida shooting was a member of his “white separatist paramilitary proto-fascist organization.” Nikolas Cruz, 19, is accused of killing 17 people in one of the deadliest school shootings in modern American history. His peers say he also wore a “Make America Great Again” hat in school. (Anti-Defamation League / The Daily Beast / New York Times)Universal background checks poll at 86 percent approval; universal licensing at 78 percent; banning sales to those with previous violent-crime convictions at 83 percent. Even measures such as a national gun registry and bans on assault-style weapons such as the AR-15 are approved by more than two-thirds of Americans. It’s long past time to relegate the NRA’s extremism to the sidelines, and actually DO SOMETHING about gun violence!
We have the power to change this.
It’s called a vote, and enough votes can win over any amount of money poured out against us by the NRA.
And it’s not just kids that are dying. There have been 58 shootings, SINCE YESTERDAY! It’s February and there have been 6,761 incidents of gun violence this year. Check this.
Who is part of the legislative arm of the NRA?
Ratings from the NRA (Senate)
Here’s a great interactive chart for both representatives and senators (nytimes)
Who passed H.R. 38 – Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017?
Check here if your representative voted YES to this. Advocates are incensed that the broadly bipartisan NCIS bill that would close loopholes in the National Criminal Instant Background Check system was hijacked in a cynical ploy by GOP leadership with legislation that forces police officers to recognize concealed carry permits from other states, including those that issue permits to 18 year olds and domestic abusers. it also allows people to bring their weapons on national park lands, and off-duty police officers to bring guns into highly restrictive school zones.
Who co-signed S.446 – Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017?
Check here if your senator is on the list.
Follow the money:
Here’s the list of all recipients of NRA cash.
Top 5 Senators With the Most Contributions From the NRA (fortune)
- John McCain (R, AZ) – $7.74 million
- Richard Burr (R, NC) – $6.99 million
- Roy Blunt (R, MO) – $4.55 million
- Thom Tillis (R, NC) – $4.42 million
- Cory Gardner (R, CO) – $3.88 million
Top 5 Representatives With the Most Contributions From the NRA
- French Hill (R, AR) – $1.09 million
- Ken Buck (R, CO) – $800,544
- David Young (R, IA) – $707,662
- Mike Simpson, (R, ID) – $385,731
- Greg Gianforte (R, MT) – $344,630
Be ready to march:
A number of groups are preparing for nationwide protests. Be ready to join in.
Call your legislators:
Senators
Action: Call your Rep. and ask them to oppose this bill. How-to-call information at bottom.
Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Sen. [___] to not only vote “HELL NO” on S.446 – Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, but to do whatever is necessary to get S.2095 – Assault Weapons Ban of 2017 passed.
More Script if you want it: Ask for these too!
- Closing the loophole that lets people buy guns at shows and through private sellers without background checks
- Instituting universal background checks for ammo and gun buyers, a measure 80% of gun owners support
- Removing the Dickey Rider from the federal budget and finally allowing the CDC to research gun violence prevention
- Funding evidence-based community antiviolence programs, like Ceasefire, which have been shown to reduce shootings
Representatives
Action: Call your Rep. and tell them to press for our safety. How-to-call information at bottom.
Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Rep. [___] to pass legislation to close the gun show/private owner loophole, to provide for universal background checks, to remove the Dickey rider preventing research and fund programs like Ceasefire.
More Script if you want it: Ask for these too!
- H.R.4268 – Gun Safety: Not Sorry Act of 2017 to provide for a 7-day waiting period before a semiautomatic firearm, a silencer, armor piercing ammunition, or a large capacity ammunition magazine may be transferred.
- H.R. 4168: Closing the Bump-Stock Loophole Act
- H.R. 3999: To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the manufacture, possession, or transfer of any part or combination of parts that is designed and functions to increase the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but does not convert the semia
How to contact your legislators
Rep. Julia Brownley: (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779
or Rep. Salud Carbajal: (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348
Which one is yours?: http://www.phoneyourrep.com
Senator Feinstein: DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
and Senator Harris: DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884
Other Rep./Senator Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com
Reading:
- Frustration Grows as Congress shows inability to pass even modest gun measures. (nytimes)
- US Appeals court uphold Maryland’s ban on assult rifles as “weapons of war” (reuters.com)
- Amid continued string of mass shootings, gun control going nowhere in Congress (CNN)
- What Congress has accomplished since the Sandy Hook Massacre (nytimes)
-
Next Week, My School Will Have An ‘Active Shooter’ Drill. Here’s What I’ll Be Thinking.(Huffpost)
- How to Reduce Mass Shooting Deaths? Experts Rank Gun Laws (nytimes)
-
Here’s Why American Teenagers Can Buy AR-15s (thedailybeast)
- News and notes on guns in America (thetrace.org)
- Gun Violence Archive – Jan. 1st thru Feb. 16th, 2018 (http://www.gunviolencearchive.org
)
