Tues – 9/10: Guns meet common sense – access limitations and federal universal background checks for guns AND bullets.

See story and video of suspect stopped BEFORE people were killed here. This happened yesterday, 9/9.

Action #1 – Still in play! CA actions to limit access to guns – “YES” on AB 893 – Stop gun shows at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and SB – 61 – Firearms Transfers.

AB 893 – “22nd District Agricultural Association: firearm and ammunition sales at the Del Mar Fairgrounds” would, on and after January 1, 2021, prohibit the sale of firearms and ammunition at the Del Mar Fairgrounds property located in the 22nd District Agricultural Association, as specified, and would thereby make a violation of that prohibition a misdemeanor. The bill would exclude from its provisions a gun buyback event held by a law enforcement agency. (Assemblymember Gloria)

Minimal script for your State Senator: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [___] to vote “YES” on AB 893.. It’s time for stop our public property to be used for gun shows and it’s also time that funding for all political messages, from whatever media, is no longer a secret from voters.

State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (SD-19): SAC (916) 651-4019, SB (805) 965-0862, OX (805)988-1940 email
Not your people?: findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.

Action #2 – Still in play! CA actions to limit access to guns – “YES” on SB – 61 – Firearms Transfers.

Continue reading “Tues – 9/10: Guns meet common sense – access limitations and federal universal background checks for guns AND bullets.” →

Tues 9/10: We fund cancer research with actual money, not “thoughts and prayers.” We need to do the same with gun violence.

(Top graphic from the Journal of the American Medical Association – NPR)

Action #1 – We can’t stop or reduce a cause of death we don’t understand. The Senate needs to pass HR 2740 to fund research on gun violence

“More than 30,000 people are killed with guns in the U.S. every year. That’s more than die of AIDS, and about the same number as die in car crashes or from liver disease. But unlike AIDS or car crashes, the government doesn’t treat gun injuries or deaths as a public health threat.” (NPR)

Science-based research has brought down the number of deaths from highway accidents and Ebola. We can do this with gun violence too. Continue reading “Tues 9/10: We fund cancer research with actual money, not “thoughts and prayers.” We need to do the same with gun violence.” →

Mon 8/5: Senators, get back to D.C. and vote on these gun bills!

“Thoughts and prayers are not enough. We must act. Mitch McConnell – please call the Senate back to work tomorrow and let us vote on gun-safety laws.” Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) August 4, 2019

Meanwhile, after notification of the massacre in El Paso, our president continued on with his busy day of golfing and crashing weddings at his club. He has, in the last few hours, finally gotten down to business with his inimitable mix of laziness, lies and misdirection…

He confused Dayton, Ohio with Toledo.
He blamed the internet and the press for the explosion of white radicalization, not his own demonizing of migrants and racial minorities.
He’s focusing on mental illness and away from gun restrictions – “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger — not the gun.” Rest assured the GOP won’t be handing out additional monies to treat mental illness. Plus, Trump made it easier for people with mental health issues to obtain guns.
He floated connecting background check reform with stronger immigration legislation, i.e. – rewarding the people who kill immigrants with legislation against immigrants.

So, no help there, as usual. It’s up to us to get our legislators moving…

Action #1 – Call your senators and ask them to return to Washington D.C. and finish the job of passing background check bills.

Minimal Script for Senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to Sen. [___] to return to D.C. and press for the passage of background check bills S.42 and HR 1112.

Action #2 – Call your legislators and ask them, while they’re at it, to push through assault weapon and large capacity ammo bans.

Minimal Script for Representatives: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to Rep. [___] to return to D.C. and press for the passage of assault weapon and large capacity ammunition feeding device bans HR 1296 and HR 1186

Minimal Script for Senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to Sen. [___] to return to D.C. and press for the passage of assault weapon and large capacity ammunition feeding device bans S.66 and S.447. Continue reading “Mon 8/5: Senators, get back to D.C. and vote on these gun bills!” →

Mon 6/24: Mark your calendars. 2 gun show meetings!

Here’s the long awaited Committee Report on Gun Shows and the associated materials from the Ventura County Fairgrounds Board of Directors (6/21/2019) and the notices for the next two meetings.

(July 24th UPDATE from Indivisible Conejo concerning this week’s Ventura County Fair Board meetings):

The board has removed any consideration of its gun show policy from tomorrow’s (Tuesday) agenda, and instead will devote the entirety of its special Thursday meeting to the subject. Therefore, if you would like to participate during Public Comments tomorrow at 9 a.m., please feel free to do so, but understand that the board will not be addressing our concerns afterward. We strongly encourage activists to come to Thursday’s meeting and make your voices heard!
A word of warning: It seems clear, based on documents posted to the Fair Board’s website over the weekend, that this debate is not going to go our way. The ad-hoc committee on guns shows will recommend that the board create a formal policy allowing them, with the addition of a few minor regulations. The committee’s sole rationale seems to be that it has not found “a direct link between a firearm sale at the Fairgrounds and an incident of gun violence in the Ventura community.” That preposterously narrow criterion doesn’t begin to account for the broad public aversion to guns and paraphernalia being marketed on publicly owned property, or the trauma our county has experienced so recently at Borderline. It is our job to let the Fair Board members know that their jobs and reputations are on the line with this decision — not to mention the reputation of the fairgrounds itself! Please join us on Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Derby Club on the fairgrounds site.

June 25 is the regular board meeting.

June 27 is a special meeting specifically about guns shows and gun show policy.

Come join us as we make our feelings clear about our state government being mixed up in a business that’s part of our national trauma.

Fri- 5/3: If gun violence were a disease, this whole country would be in quarantine. – Part 2

Statistics from Gun Violence Archive. See chart at bottom.

(Time) “If Jaron had died from a disease, one that kills approximately 33,000 people every year, (almost 40,000 last year) our family would rest assured that massive efforts were underway to counteract such a devastating threat to public health.”

Action #1 – Sign the “Stop gun shows at our Fairgrounds” petition.

First, sign this petition here.
Send a message to Governor Newsom. Talking points from the Brady Campaign and link here.

Action #2 – Join in the Gun show protest this Saturday (May 4th) 1 – 3pm at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

gun show

“In these times of horrific gun violence, no state agency should be promoting and profiting from the proliferation of firearms and ammunition in our community,”- Ruth Borenstein, a leader of the San Francisco chapter of Brady United Against Gun Violence.

Continue reading “Fri- 5/3: If gun violence were a disease, this whole country would be in quarantine. – Part 2” →

Thurs – 5/2: If gun violence were a disease, this whole country would be in quarantine. – Part 1

Statistics from Gun Violence Archive.

Oh wait! It is!
(ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)”Gun violence is a complex biopsychosocial disease and as such, requires a multidisciplinary approach to understanding and treatment. Framing gun violence as a disease places it firmly within medical and public health practice. By applying the disease model to gun violence, it is possible to explore the host, agent, and environment in which gun violence occurs, and to identify risk factors to target for prevention.”

2 actions!

Action #1 – Tonight, May 2nd – Oxnard Planning Commission – Help them identify some “risk factors”!

Council Chambers, 305 West Third Street, Oxnard, CA 93030
Thursday, May 2, 2019, 07:00 P.M.

Item #2 on the agenda is a resolution recommending that the City council approve Planning and Zoning Permit No. 19-580-02 establishing regulations to address firearm ranges and the sale of firearms and ammunition.

Continue reading “Thurs – 5/2: If gun violence were a disease, this whole country would be in quarantine. – Part 1” →

Tues – 2/5: Call today about HR 8 – Bipartisan Background Checks Act!

Action #1: Call your representative to thank or spank!

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to thank Rep. [___] for cosponsoring H.R.8 – the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019.

Continue reading “Tues – 2/5: Call today about HR 8 – Bipartisan Background Checks Act!” →

Tues – 11/27: It’s a busy day! Here’s your action prescription.

Here’s the synopsis of today’s actions. Do as much as you can. (More details below.)

First thing – Call your legislators on horrible judge pick Thomas Farr
Go to the Fairgrounds to protest gun shows
Sign a petition against gun shows
Email the Country Fair Board
Go to the Oxnard City Council meeting tonight. Police Chief Whitney is presenting a temporary moratorium on new firearms and ammunition retailers.

#1 – Morning Coffee Action – Make this call – “NO” on Thomas Farr for US District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Continue reading “Tues – 11/27: It’s a busy day! Here’s your action prescription.” →

Tues – 11/20: Our actions help take back the House. We can stop gun shows here too.

October 1st marked the one-year anniversary of the Las Vegas mass shooting, where 59 innocent people were murdered, and more than 500 others were injured. This November 7th, some of the survivors went through the same trauma again at our popular dance spot, the Borderline. 12 people died, including an armed law enforcement officer.

We are beyond “thoughts and prayers” over gun violence.

We have learned from this last election, that regular citizens, with both individual and group actions, can profoundly change this world for the better.

Here is what you can do right now and this is what we can do together.

Action #1 – Sign and share this petition

Take an action TODAY to end the proliferation of guns via the gun shows at the Ventura County Fairgrounds and our state profiting off of gun and ammunition sales. Help end the CROSSROADS of THE WEST (COTW) contract with Ventura County . (See “Background” below regarding some highly problematic issues with this promoter.)

https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-gunshows-at-the

Continue reading “Tues – 11/20: Our actions help take back the House. We can stop gun shows here too.” →

Mon – Oct. 1: 1st anniversary of the Las Vegas Massacre. We are beyond “T&P” now. This is what you can do.

Today, October 1st, marks the one-year anniversary of the Las Vegas mass shooting, where 59 innocent people were murdered, and more than 500 others were injured by shooter Stephen Paddock.

Aside from thoughts and prayers for the trauma and tragedy of these families, we can take local action TODAY to end the proliferation of guns via the gun shows at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. This is our last chance to end the CROSSROADS of THE WEST (COTW) contract with Ventura County before they are renewed. (See “Background” below regarding some highly problematic issues with this promoter.)

Let’s turn our anger into action: