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More Anti-Gun Propaganda
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Unexpected allies
GUN CONTROL
WHEN lawmakers on opposite ends of a debate team up to support a sensible gun-control bill, it's newsworthy. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., is a former board member of the National Rifle Association. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., got serious about firearms legislation after her husband was gunned down on a Long Island train in 1993. Though they agree on little else, they are all fired up over legislation to keep guns away from felons and the mentally ill.
Their bill isn't a complete solution, but it's a good start. It certainly beats some of the half-cocked remedies that pay lip service to gun violence but never offer ways to stem it. Some NRA supporters are fond of saying that when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will own guns. But these same people aren't exactly working overtime for laws to improve recordkeeping in order to keep the outlaws unarmed.
A report by Americans for Gun Safety Foundation, hardly an anti-gun group, shows that conviction records kept by most states are insufficient to help authorities quickly complete background checks before issuing gun permits. That's why some 400 felons got permits to buy guns in Missouri between 1998 and 2001. In addition, Missouri is among 33 states that lack records that could help prevent mentally ill applicants from getting gun permits.
The Dingell-McCarthy bill would give states about $1.1 billion over three years to upgrade their records and help avoid issuing firearms permits to criminals, mentally unstable people and others who should not own guns. Mr. Dingell has used his clout to thwart many gun control proposals. But he conceded last week that existing laws had not kept guns out of the hands of people who are forbidden to own them. In one telling comment to The Los Angeles Times, he conceded, "Because states aren't automating their records or sending them to the FBI (to do instant checks), convicted felons, spousal abusers and the mentally ill are getting guns illegally."
That point also makes clear why many so-called safeguards in concealed carry laws are a joke. The most sensible solutions to gun violence are a strict ban on private ownership of certain types of firearms, tough registration laws and crackdowns on gun shows where stolen weapons are sold and traded without restrictions. If lawmakers cannot yet support these measures, they owe it to the public to at least back the Dingell-McCarthy proposal.
http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel/pdweb.nsf/TodaySaturday/86256A0E0068FE5086256BCB002D94FF
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
GUN CONTROL
WHEN lawmakers on opposite ends of a debate team up to support a sensible gun-control bill, it's newsworthy. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., is a former board member of the National Rifle Association. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., got serious about firearms legislation after her husband was gunned down on a Long Island train in 1993. Though they agree on little else, they are all fired up over legislation to keep guns away from felons and the mentally ill.
Their bill isn't a complete solution, but it's a good start. It certainly beats some of the half-cocked remedies that pay lip service to gun violence but never offer ways to stem it. Some NRA supporters are fond of saying that when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will own guns. But these same people aren't exactly working overtime for laws to improve recordkeeping in order to keep the outlaws unarmed.
A report by Americans for Gun Safety Foundation, hardly an anti-gun group, shows that conviction records kept by most states are insufficient to help authorities quickly complete background checks before issuing gun permits. That's why some 400 felons got permits to buy guns in Missouri between 1998 and 2001. In addition, Missouri is among 33 states that lack records that could help prevent mentally ill applicants from getting gun permits.
The Dingell-McCarthy bill would give states about $1.1 billion over three years to upgrade their records and help avoid issuing firearms permits to criminals, mentally unstable people and others who should not own guns. Mr. Dingell has used his clout to thwart many gun control proposals. But he conceded last week that existing laws had not kept guns out of the hands of people who are forbidden to own them. In one telling comment to The Los Angeles Times, he conceded, "Because states aren't automating their records or sending them to the FBI (to do instant checks), convicted felons, spousal abusers and the mentally ill are getting guns illegally."
That point also makes clear why many so-called safeguards in concealed carry laws are a joke. The most sensible solutions to gun violence are a strict ban on private ownership of certain types of firearms, tough registration laws and crackdowns on gun shows where stolen weapons are sold and traded without restrictions. If lawmakers cannot yet support these measures, they owe it to the public to at least back the Dingell-McCarthy proposal.
http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel/pdweb.nsf/TodaySaturday/86256A0E0068FE5086256BCB002D94FF
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
The report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine also notes that nearly a-third of the victims are uninsured.
The study was conducted jointly by Doctor Jeff Coben of the Center for Violence and Injury Control at Pittsburgh's Allegheny General Hospital and Doctor Claudia Steiner of the federal Healthcare Research and Quality agency.
For 1997 -- the most recent year with complete data -- the figure topped 800 (m) million dollars, and that doesn't include doctor fees or follow-up care.
Ageless cosmic rocker!
Headline: "Residents march against guns".
Fact: They marched to protest gang violence and crime levels.
Unintentional humor: "People living in the troubled areas... live in fear of guns and earlier this year, police started armed street patrols." -- So are people now living in fear of the police?
A link to Manchester's anti-gang task force shows that "eliminating guns" doesn't even make the top 10 on their priority list.
Residents march against guns
Two hundred people marched through troubled areas
Residents have marched through Manchester in protest at the level of gang violence in the city.
The parents of young men shot dead in south Manchester were among the 200 protesters.
Thirteen people have been killed in the area in three years, and there have been 20 shootings this year already.
It is all about people coming together and agreeing on one subject and saying that enough is enough
Michael McFarquhar, march organiser
Almost all of the incidents are drugs-related.
People living in the troubled areas of Longsight and Moss Side live in fear of guns and earlier this year, police started armed street patrols in some areas to try to tackle the problem.
Sheila Eccleston, whose son Dean was shot dead, said: "We need to get all the community together to stand up for our rights.
"We are sick and tired of these so-called gangsters with guns."
People affected
Lynn Hayes, whose 18-year-old son Daniel Dale was killed shot dead last July, said the shootings were also taking place in other parts of the city.
"People think it won't affect them, but it will and something has to be done."
"Gangstop" march organiser Michael McFarquhar, 34, said he took it upon himself to co-ordinate the protest after three members of his family were shot over the last three years.
He said: "It is all about people coming together and agreeing on one subject and saying that enough is enough."
'Crocodile tears'
The marchers were addressed by Manchester's Lord Mayor Roy Walters, who spoke of the need to unite against gangs.
But Longsight resident Raf Mulla said: "It is all very well for him to come here and shed crocodile tears but the authorities never do anything.
"They can raise tens of millions of pounds to hold the Commonwealth Games but they have let the people of Manchester rot for the last 15 years."
Chief Superintendent Adrian Lee said: "The Gangstop march is the local community's response to the culture of gang and gun violence which has grown over the past few years in certain parts of south Manchester.
Leave gangs
"Their objectives are very much in line with our Manchester multi-agency gang strategy.
"The underlying philosophy is to deal with those factors which lead to criminal gang involvement; to stop young people joining gangs or to work with them so that they can leave gangs."
The project aims to identify problem youngsters and give them the support necessary to steer them away from a life of crime.
The programme involves the health service, teachers and social workers, who look for tell-tale signs and act to prevent vulnerable children from being led astray. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_2019000/2019912.stm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878