Remembering 4/16/07: Action, Progress, Hope

Wednesday, April 16, marked the one-year anniversary of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, where 32 people were murdered and 17 wounded by an individual who never should have gained access to guns.

Survivors and family members of those killed and injured in that shooting joined students, parents, and concerned citizens across America to remember the lives lost on April 16, 2007, and to comfort those who bear the scars, both physical and emotional, of that day.

In remembrance events across the country, groups of at least 32 people lay silently on the ground (following the example of Abby Spangler, founder of ProtestEasyGuns.com), rang bells, read names, or said prayers to remember the victims and to demonstrate their outrage at weak gun laws in America. Virginia Tech family members and survivors like the Samaha family, the Read family, the Goddard family, the Habtu family, the Pohle family, and others were an integral part of these events.

In almost 32 states, and on at least 32 college campuses (including Virginia Tech), Americans remembered the lives lost one year ago, and then expressed their dismay over our unwillingness to do something more to reduce the toll of 30,000 gun deaths in this country.

From Portland, Maine to Phoenix, Arizona; from Los Angeles, California to Washington, DC; from Dallas, Texas to Duluth, Minnesota and many points in between - in cities like Bloomington, Cincinnati, Colorado Springs, Kalamazoo, Tuscaloosa and Winston-Salem - Americans sent a message to their elected officials:

We need to make it harder for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons by doing things like strengthening our background check system and closing the gun show loophole.

America is turning a corner on the gun issue, and Wednesday was another example of that.

Note to readers: This entry, along with past entries, has been co-posted on bradycampaign.org/blog and the Huffington Post.

Comments

[mike101]

Well, the BC still isn't finished using these poor victims. This is the opening paragraph of the email they sent me yesterday:

"Dear Michael,

Together, we did it!

Thanks to your support and your efforts, last week thousands of individuals, Million Mom March Chapters, community allies, and friends and family of the Virginia Tech victims marked the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings and called on legislators to do something about gun violence.

Click Here to Support Your Brady Campaign Today"

I couldn't fit the whole thing in due to that pesky 250 word limit, but there were no less than three places to "Click here to Donate Now" (tm). This is the third time in a week that they have hit me up for a donation. It's getting ridiculous.

[ebaLnoloM]

Just in case there are still sheeple out there who want to argue the "but Austraila's gun bans have been so effective" position....

http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=2240

[mike101]

Judge shuts down Mayor Nutter's new, illegal Philly gun laws.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PHILADELPHIA_GUN_LAWS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

The writing is on the wall, BC.

[ladyshooter]

I would hope Mayor Nutter will get assessed court costs and attorney fees associated with the case against his unlawful Philadelphia laws. The only way, to stop this kind of nonsense, is for the politicians to start paying out of their own pockets.

[DMeadows]

Alternative headlines:

"Court says 'Nuts!' to Nutter"

or better yet . . .

"Nutter's nuttiness nixed"

[kaveman]

Wow Kelli, ...21 people get shot in just one night in your beloved city of chicago.

How's that gun-ban there working out for ya?

Just wondering.

[Thirdpower2]

It's working out great for them. These are exactly the type of events they need to continue to push their agenda.

Click Here To Donate Now! (tm)

[mike101]

Total of 32 people shot for the weekend. Didn't anyone tell the gangstas about the gun-ban?

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.weekend.violence.2.704117.html

Didn't anyone tell the gangstas about the gun-ban?

Click Here To Donate Now! (tm)

[Sneaky]

Why does news like this make me want to finish my Noveske build? Damn you Paul, I can't afford this 1 per month thing. Need a third job...

[ebaLnoloM]

Correction: April 18, 2008
"Because of an editing error, an article on Tuesday about efforts by state lawmakers across the country to pass new restrictions on guns referred imprecisely to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. While it supports some firearms restrictions and enforcement of legal regulations on gun ownership, it is not an "antigun group." -NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/us/15guns.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

hahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!

Hat-tip to Say Uncle.....

[ebaLnoloM]

"Gun control is bad for business --- at gun shops and mortuaries" -Leifrakur

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.weekend.violence.2.704117.html

Once again, it only takes reality to trump emotionalism.
Maybe Chicago needs MORE gun control?!

[dcaven]

I lived in Chicago for a couple of years. It is a horribly violent place. Certainly something needs to be done. The ongoing violence demonstrates that with almost 30 years into a handgun ban, officials are powerless to curb violence through gun control. Currently, I live in Houston. Houston definitely has its problems. Law abiding citizens, however, are allowed to defend themselves with concealed handguns. Not a perfect solution but a heck of a lot better than relagating the lawabiding to victimhood.

David

[ebaLnoloM]

Urban violence is a social problem exacerbated by the deterioration of various social factors which are disproportionate in urban areas. To deny it under the guise of "political correctness" is ignorant. Our politicians and law-makers are afraid to take a hard approach toward curbing urban violence because to do so is perceived as being "racist" or "prejudiced" because of the disproportionate minority demographic. But in reality, there is nothing racist or prejudiced about identifying and addressing a disproportionate concentration of violence in urban areas. Statistics continually show the reality of urban violence. And it encompasses ALL races and genders of those who occupy urban areas, not just minorities. But because minorities make up the majority of the demographic, it is, for whatever reason, taboo to focus on remedies which are specific to the urban population. Instead, politicians take a generalistic approach and take the focus away from the demographic (again, the geographic area, not the skin color) committing the violence and instead focus on the more politically correct regulation of implements. And unfortunately, doing so dillutes our resources and turns a potentially effective effort into a half-assed attempot across the boards.

[ebaLnoloM]

Hopefully you saw my response to you before the HuffPo deleted it for some reason.

[Leifrakur]

Gun control is bad for business --- at gun shops and mortuaries.

[Sneaky]

Are you saying gun control reduces violence?

Cool. Prove it.

[mike101]

Apparently gun control is good for business at the FBI. Crime has risen 313% (per 100,000 inhabitants) in the US over the forty years of your precious gun control.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/

Of course, now you're probably going to tell us that the FBI Uniform Crime Report is fake, just like all of those quotes from the founders we like to present. Fortunately, the Supreme Court didn't believe you either.

[Thirdpower2]

Mortuaries have been doing great business under "gun control". Just look at "Gun Free" Chicago and Washington DC.

[shutterbug80]

people have a right to react to murders with words and protests. its insane to think they wont.

[Sneaky]

Nobody is arguing that people have no right to public displays of outrage. What people ARE arguing with is the manner and timing. I sincerely hope you are not defending the practice of throwing the murders of these 32 people in the faces of their families and friends with a little "donate now" message attached.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. This is NOT the way to win the hearts and minds of the people the Brady Campaign is trying to win over.

[shutterbug80]

I don't see why it bothers you. they weren't hurting anyone. they weren't gun-grabbing.



what is your beef with them?

[SnowflakesInHell]

Absolutely they have a right to react that way, but I have a right to argue that it's tasteless to commemorate something like VT tech by 32 people laying down and pretending to be dead to make a political point. I don't have any problems with people using a tragedy to argue for a political position, that's fine. But there is a line of tastefulness, and I think the whole "lie-in" schtick crosses it.

[ladyshooter]

You are absolutely right! The Brady Center is completely tasteless. It is ironic they show up at an institute of higher education, because they have absolutely no class.

[Lcollins]

EXPERT GROUP DISCOVERS 5 REASONS WHY COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ARE NOT SAFE

The SERAPH Research Team, consisting of education and law enforcement experts have discovered seven reasons, which create unsafe college campuses.

The SERAPH Research Team provides a bi-yearly school safety report for Congress and in 2006 provided an assessment of the "The Virginia Tech Review Panel Report".

SERAPH Research Team http://www.seraph.net/about_seraph.html

[mike101]

There's nothing there. Just the homepage.

[ladyshooter]

It makes a lot more sense for someone to take immediate decisive action, when some nutcase tries to commit mass murder, and stop his rampage.

[mike101]

Click Here To Donate Now! (tm)

[DMeadows]

"America is turning a corner on the gun issue"

Yep, but with concealed weapons laws spreading, more liberal self-defense laws advancing, and the majority on the Supreme Court indicating that the Second Amendment is an individual, not collective, right in oral argument, the turn is emphatically in a direction opposite that of what the Brady Campaign and other gun-control advocates argue for.

How do you explain that? The gun-control argument and its agenda is wrong? Yes, precisely.

[ebaLnoloM]

I'll have to check my zip code; seems I woke up in Punxatawney this morning.......

ANOTHER "Remember the 32 V-Tech victims" post ? Is this really all the Brady Campaign has anymore?

Is this a mini-series?

[DMeadows]

"weak gun laws in America"

If only we would look to the gun-control paradise of Chicago, a city that gets lots of praise and high marks from the Brady Campaign for Doing Something About Gun Violence(tm), perhaps we could learn some things from their experience with strict gun-control and how effective it's been with reducing Gun Violence(tm).

"Violent night: 20 people shot in Chicago in just 12 hours"
http://www.yahoo.com/s/861165

Ummm, OK, scratch that idea.

[ironjawedangel]

The city of Chicago, where I live BTW, doesn't play hopscotch with lives and guns ... they're trying to do something constructive about this problem. They should be commended ~ not slapped in the face. It's so easy to just throw up a metro area and exclaim with unabashed authority ~ 'See, they're not perfect or guncrime free either; so why don't we just scratch that idea of gun control and give everybody who wants them, guns.' If you had really wanted to do a decent job comparing rates of violence and gun control effectiveness, you'd have gone from city to city (or even, just state to state ... much easier) and then compared your results to get the whole picture. But you weren't interested in doing that, were you? You just wanted to dish on gun-control (and put down a city that's addressing this...), and add another dead-end post for others to waste time responding to. I could say more, but I don't want to get banned.

[mike101]

You were already banned, Kelli, due to a lack of self control, and are now here under a phony name.

Chicago gun control is a joke, just like everything else the hopelessly corrupt government of that city does. It has succeeded in disarming everyone but the criminals. It has done nothing to control crime.

I've seen it in action.

[Thirdpower2]

"Constructive" being defined as using public money to take kids (who have a 51% graduation rate) out of school and bus them to the state capitol to lobby for more gun laws that have done NOTHING to prevent crime anywhere else. "Constructive" being defined as Mayor Daley covering up for abusive police officers while at the same time running one of the most corrupt administrations in the nation (following a long precedent for Chicago). "Constructive" being defined as blaming the rest of the state that has less than HALF the crime rate yet 3x the population.

[ladyshooter]

You also have to realize the city government in Chicago is completely corrupt. The Daley political machine seems to be very close to being organized crime. In 1960, and at other times, there seem to be a lot of dead people voting in Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. I have my doubts about Mayor Daley being able to literally raise the dead.

[MSorgy]

Kelli:

I saw your little speech regarding why you were "leaving" HuffPo. I guess it comes back to the same thing as usual. If we don't agree with you, then we must be wrong and therefore, HufffPo should not publish our comments.

I am a bit surprised, as a journalist, that you don't believe in the First Amendment. This is an open forum and, IMHO, it is very hypocritical of you to lambast HuffPo because they open it to all who want to post here.

Enjoy your time off. It looks like you can really use it.

Michael

[ladyshooter]

Don't worry, Mayor Daley, and his political cronies, will be able to bring them back to life. They have a long standing reputation for raising the dead. If you do not believe me, go examine the election records in Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. ;-)

[1will]

Great job standing on the corpses of 32 dead college students in order to preach another special interest tirade.
By the way, from the pictures I've seen of the protests ProtestEasyGuns was lucky to get even 32 people to show up.

[ironjawedangel]

If so few people showed up to remember the dead/injured from VT shootings, as you claim ... then why are you so discombobulated over it?

[edutilos]

Careful not to confuse the outcome with the intent there Kelli. It really wouldn't have mattered if 12 or 1200 people showed up, still completely tasteless.

[Sneaky]

Because it's still disrespectful to those who actually did lose, regardless of what those who simply say how sad it was to lose, on that day. You do not throw in the faces of parents the deaths of their children and say "Look what did!" You give them a moment of silence to mourn the loss of their loved ones. You show them respect.

You would be amazed at how much credibility the Brady Campaign lost by pushing this event on the day it did, in spite of the wishes of the Universities. Even people I know who agree with their positions lost respect for them because of that.

[DMeadows]

Because no matter how few people are involved, tasteless is tasteless.

And, this is the forum for talking about all things gun-control and gun-control advocacy, in all its ignominy. It's not like this is a general-interest blog.

[Sneaky]

So... what does this have to do with gun shows again? What does this have to do with the NICS again?

Both did their jobs, so it's hardly the fault of the system. One of these days we'll grow past blaming inanimate things and start laying responsibility on persons...

[WalterHiggins]

"America is turning a corner on the gun issue"

The corner will be turned when the Supreme Court reaffirms the right to keep and bear arms.

We should expect to see, "The Brady Campaign to repeal portions of the Bill of Rights", soon.

[Melodyl]

Let"s look at what wonders the Brady Campaign has chalked up in the last 72 hours. Rubbed salt in to the wounds of the families of Virginia Tech, ripped open painful memories. Made total fools of them selves, and could not even scrounge up 32 bodies for the big LIE in.

Went against the wishes of the controlling body of Virginia Tech, totally disrespecting their wishes, not to mention the other campuses nationwide the Brady Bunch decided to force them selves upon.

Hey for an encore why don"t you people spray bomb the walls of all the collage buildings. Or better start pyramid scheme sell soap to each other, and the collage students.

I still cannot believe how shameless the Brady Bunch could be on the backs of the innocent just for a little bit of money. For shame, this is a new high is sleaze. You can"t even put lipstick on a pig like the Brady Campaign.