Time is less easily marked in a desert climate. Leaves don't cover the ground in the fall, and snow rarely buries it in the winter. The year is divided into only two main seasons -- most notably summer, when a brutal dry heat sends residents indoors.
But on Jan. 8, 2011, the city of Tucson, Arizona was introduced to a horrifying new way to mark the passage of time, on a day that left an indelible scar, and ushered the city into a new reality defined by "the number of days that have passed since the shooting." For the families of the victims of the shooting there, an incomprehensible act of violence that left six people dead and 13 more wounded outside a Safeway, including Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Jan. 8, 2011 is forever the dividing line between their lives before and after. The one year anniversary of the shooting was just one month ago, and two weeks ago, as a result of her injuries from the shooting, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords stepped down.
So what does "after" look like? And what is the progress of the crucially important Fix Gun Checks movement sponsored by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition as we enter into 2012, with a recent second shooting at Virginia Tech bringing back only too fresh memories of a massacre there that still haunts a community?
As Tucson survivor Mavy Stoddard, who lost her husband Dorwan Stoddard that day, recalls, "I felt completely lost, like I was in an alien world, and none of this could possibly be happening a mile from my home."
But until we fix our legislation surrounding background checks for purchasing firearms, and update the national database, we are still living in this alien world -- a world where a Safeway supermarket can become a war zone in a matter of seconds.
Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a national bi-partisan coalition of over six hundred mayors co-founded by New York's Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Boston's Mayor Thomas M. Menino, feels some progress has been made since the Tucson shooting, though he won't rest until the Fix Gun Checks Act is passed. The mission is simple: respect the rights of responsible law-abiding Americans and keep guns out of the hands of criminals, drug abusers, the mentally ill, and other dangerous people. Update the national database, and close the loopholes surrounding gun sale laws.
He states:
Last November, the Senate held a hearing on the bill with testimony from Pat Maisch, one of the Tucson shooting survivors. The bill has 85 sponsors in the House. More than 450,000 Americans have signed a petition urging Congress to fix gun checks -- along with more than 600 mayors of all political stripes.
We also know the public supports the Fix Gun Checks Act. 86 percent of Americans -- and 81 percent of gun owners -- believe every gun buyer should pass an instant background check. We need to make sure Congress understands that Americans want this common-sense reform. It's a simple solution that respects the Second Amendment, has the overwhelming support of gun owners, and would save a lot of lives.
So why hasn't it been passed yet? In the time since the one year anniversary of Tucson, Congress itself has lost a valuable and dedicated member with Gabrielle Giffords' resignation -- the direct result of a senseless and preventable crime committed with an illegal gun.
As Stoddard also states, "When your world ends, as it did when Dorwan died, another one has to begin."
When will our new world begin? When will this country be safe from illegal guns?
What are we waiting for?
For more information:
www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org
www.fixgunchecks.org
You tried this a year ago. It didn't work because people are starting to occasionally realize that emotional overreactions are BAD, and even worse when they become policy. Trying to whip everyone into a frenzy again is going to work just as poorly as it did the first time.
What "loopholes"? What parts of the background check system need to be "fixed"? What is an "illegal gun"?
Please provide something concrete that can be discussed.
There is nothing wrong with the old one, darlin'. And, there is no such thing as an "illegal" gun - only illegal behavior. Further, to make the mere lawful exercise of the pre-existiÂng, constitutiÂonally-proÂtected right to keep and bear arms "illegal" is in itself "illegal", and the actions of a government that exercises authority that it does not legitimateÂly have.
You cannot have liberty when you decide to prohibit liberty. We want to retain our constitutiÂonally-proÂtected liberty, even if you don't.
There is nothing wrong with the old one, darlin'. And, there is no such thing as an "illegal" gun - only illegal behavior. Further, to make the mere lawful exercise of the pre-existing, constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms "illegal" is in itself "illegal", and the actions of a government that exercises authority that it does not legitimately have.
You cannot have liberty when you decide to prohibit liberty. We want to retain our constitutionally-protected liberty, even if you don't.
Never.
As long as there are 200 million firearms in this country - and there will be that many and more as the years go by unless you repeal the Second Amendment - criminals will have access to them. It is naive to think that passing a law requiring "every gun buyer should pass an instant background check" is going to make any difference. Criminals and gang bangers aren't going to perform a background check when they sell guns to each other. Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech shooter), Maj. Nidal Hasan (Ft. Hood shooter) and Jared Loughner (Tucson shooter) all passed an "instant background check" and it made no difference.
Thinking you are going to reduce "gun violence" by passing an unenforceable law requiring "every gun buyer should pass an instant background check" is like thinking you are going to reduce drunk driving by making it more bureaucratic, inconvenient, burdensome, and expensive for EVERYONE to buy a car. It is misguided, misdirected, unenforceable, and ultimately useless. We don't need more unenforceable, ineffective, and useless laws, advocated by well-intentioned but uninformed and naive people who just want to "do something".
many guns, too easy access, and gun check lapses are only a small part of
it. Repeal the right to keep and bear arms, and then impose a graduated
tax on ownership & possession with stiff penalties for careless behavior.
Draft of Amendment & Legislation at mjbarkl.com/run.htm .
--Mike Barkley, Candidate for Congress new CA-10 District
http://supreme.justia.com/us/390/85/
The BATF refuses to prosecute more than 1% of the 930,000 plus felons caught attempting to buy from a licensed source since 1994, not to mention the 750,000 plus others which include the crazies the infantile minority anti gun extremists are so fond of. Not to mention 95% of felons dont even attempt to buy from a licensed source.
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/html/bcft/2008/bcft08st.pdf
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=940.
So why would the government want to kill that cash cow, uh they wouldnt and that means they wouldnt want to legalize illicit drugs as that would eliminate over 40% of that revenue for prisons and reduce the need for that $250 billion a year DEA interdiction efforst, its not good business to the politicians and their cronies. See how dangerous thinking like an accountant can be!
MAIG does have a higher incidence of criminal behavior, per capita, than the general population. We see them convicted of fraud, domestic violence and all manner of misbehavior. As an organization, they've signed the names of deceased mayors to their letters, added mayors without their knowledge and generally behaved in a scurrilous and dishonest fashion. Using them as a source for a story about firearms is roughly analogous to asking Fred Phleps (*spit*) for a rational opinion of gays in this country.
Given that the CDC has found no evidence to support any gun control measure has had any positive effect, perhaps the focus should be on improving mental health care, and on controlling those that have demonstrated a history of criminal violence rather than on intruding into the lawful dealings of adult citizens disposing of their lawfully acquired private property.
http://wwwÂ.nraila.orÂg/news-issÂues/fact-sÂheets/2012Â/criminal-Âbehavior-bÂy-members-Âof-maig.asÂpx
Sorry, but you cantry to fix the database until the cows come home and it will not change the fact that the problem in the Loughner case was that no one ever took enough action to make him a prohibited person.
Federal law and state law define who are prohibited persons. Generally they are people who have been convicted of a felony, have been convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors, have been dishonorable discharged from the military, have been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility, or have been adjudicated in a court to be mentally deficient to the point of being a danger to themselves or others.
The database in this case was not at fault.
Of course we see from the USDOJ Background Check & Firearm transfer report 2008 http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/html/bcft/2008/bcft08st.pdf Brady Check report that of the 99 million checks for purchases from licensed sources only, since 1994.
We see a total of 1.67 million valid rejections, a 68% decrease in felons attempting to buy from a licensed source, and 58% of those rejected being felons.
We see that between 2000-2008 only 13,024 were prosecuted, or less than 1%.
We of course see how the anti gun lobby claims such effectiveness of this pathetically useless law with the hard data they can present that the 1.66 million plus who weren’t prosecuted then didn’t go and buy from an unlicensed source?
We also see how the USDOJ survey in 1997 where felons identified purchasing their weapons from 80% street buys, 12% retail stores, 2% gun shows.
Then that 68% reduction of attempted buys from licensed sources puts the street buys/theft at 95.52%, 3.64% retail stores, .64% gun shows in today’s numbers.
Firearm Use by Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2001 http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=940.
Amazing how ineffective that poster child of futility is and this trend is similar with ALL gun control laws.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/gun-control-a-movement-without-followers-01052012.html