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What the Anti-Gunners are up to.....
Josey1
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O'Brien urges improved gun control, policing
(Maine)
Rivals question some of her votes; her aides defend her record
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff, 8/6/2002
ROCKTON - State Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Shannon P. O'Brien unveiled a crime plan yesterday that called for stricter gun control laws, stronger community policing, improving the state's data bank of DNA information, and more supervision of criminals who are released from prison.
''No statistic, no newspaper headline, can capture the terror that families live in as a result of the rise in gang activity and violent crimes,'' O'Brien said. ''We can't reverse the loss of ... victims of violent crimes, but we must work harder, and smarter, to restore peace and safety in cities and towns across this Commonwealth.''
She unveiled her plan outside the Mary Kennedy Senior Center, built on the site of two former drug houses, and across from the Brockton YMCA, which runs youth programs and houses juvenile offenders. Brockton has struggled with a recent spate of gun crimes, including three shootings in as many days in June.
She promised to push for legislation to increase minimum sentences from three to five years for felons who carry guns, and to immediately notify local police and the state Firearms Records Bureau of felony convictions so gun licenses can be revoked at once. She also wants to create an automated fingerprint matching system, so gun dealers could confirm that gun buyers have been licensed by the state.
But O'Brien's opponents questioned her credibility on gun control yesterday, saying her own record in the Legislature was inconsistent, and citing her high ratings, from 1987 to 1990, from the National Rifle Association-affiliated Gun Owners' Action League as evidence of her patchy commitment to the issue.
''Shannon O'Brien's crime plan goes against her voting record as a state legislator,'' said Paul Wingle, spokesman for Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, a Democratic rival. ''This is a candidate who carries an A-minus legislative rating from the NRA. Voters have every right to be suspicious.''
O'Brien aides rejected that criticism, saying she had won the support of police chiefs for her anti-gun efforts and that all but one of her pro-gun votes were made as part of the majority.
''As a legislator Shannon voted for the assault weapons ban in Boston and won the support of police chiefs across the state for her efforts to keep guns out of the hands of felons,'' said O'Brien press secretary Adrian Durbin. ''The proposals she has put forth today show her commitment to making our streets safer, and in fact are more innovative and go farther than what many of her opponents have proposed.''
Yesterday, O'Brien also vowed to strengthen and fund community policing efforts, and after-school and summer programs for children. She proposed increasing the number of crimes for which those convicted have to provide DNA from 33 to all of the roughly 100 felonies.
She decried the huge backlog of DNA tests at the State Police Crime Lab, and vowed to find federal grant money and redirect state money to clearing it. O'Brien also proposed providing prisoners with better literacy- and work-training, and said the state should keep closer tabs on prisoners released into the community.
O'Brien said her proposals would probably cost about $10 million annually.
Her Democratic opponents criticized O'Brien's plan yesterday. Former state senator Warren Tolman said O'Brien should have challenged sentencing guidelines that he said filled prisons with nonviolent offenders and sapped state resources.
''We have more people incarcerated in Massachusetts than at any time in our history,'' Tolman said. ''Adding new inmates to the prisons will cost tens of millions of dollars I'd rather put to full-day kindergarten.''
All three of her Democratic rivals seized on O'Brien's legislative record on guns. That record during three terms in the House and one in the Senate was mixed: She has received high ratings from the Gun Owners' Action League for defending rights of hunters. She voted against bills requiring mandatory minimum jail sentences for carrying guns without a license, and a safety training program for gun owners, and she did not support a move to bring a statewide assault weapons ban to the floor for a vote.
''When she was in the Legislature, she was fairly understanding about the issue,'' said Michael Yacino, executive director of GOAL. ''She comes from the western part of the state, where they see firearms in a different light than in the city. She voted with us a number of times.''
But she also voted against gun owners' groups at other times, supporting an assault weapons ban in Boston in 1989, for example. Though a newspaper account at the time cited O'Brien's opposition to a similar statewide law, she said yesterday she now supports the statewide ban that eventually passed in 1998. That was not enough for her rivals, however.
''This is one of the reasons it'd be great to have an honest one-on-one debate,'' said Mark Longabaugh, campaign manager for former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich. ''We're really not clear where she stands on firearms.''
This story ran on page B3 of the Boston Globe on 8/6/2002.
c Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/218/metro/O_Brien_urges_improved_gun_control_policing+.shtml
"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
(Maine)
Rivals question some of her votes; her aides defend her record
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff, 8/6/2002
ROCKTON - State Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Shannon P. O'Brien unveiled a crime plan yesterday that called for stricter gun control laws, stronger community policing, improving the state's data bank of DNA information, and more supervision of criminals who are released from prison.
''No statistic, no newspaper headline, can capture the terror that families live in as a result of the rise in gang activity and violent crimes,'' O'Brien said. ''We can't reverse the loss of ... victims of violent crimes, but we must work harder, and smarter, to restore peace and safety in cities and towns across this Commonwealth.''
She unveiled her plan outside the Mary Kennedy Senior Center, built on the site of two former drug houses, and across from the Brockton YMCA, which runs youth programs and houses juvenile offenders. Brockton has struggled with a recent spate of gun crimes, including three shootings in as many days in June.
She promised to push for legislation to increase minimum sentences from three to five years for felons who carry guns, and to immediately notify local police and the state Firearms Records Bureau of felony convictions so gun licenses can be revoked at once. She also wants to create an automated fingerprint matching system, so gun dealers could confirm that gun buyers have been licensed by the state.
But O'Brien's opponents questioned her credibility on gun control yesterday, saying her own record in the Legislature was inconsistent, and citing her high ratings, from 1987 to 1990, from the National Rifle Association-affiliated Gun Owners' Action League as evidence of her patchy commitment to the issue.
''Shannon O'Brien's crime plan goes against her voting record as a state legislator,'' said Paul Wingle, spokesman for Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, a Democratic rival. ''This is a candidate who carries an A-minus legislative rating from the NRA. Voters have every right to be suspicious.''
O'Brien aides rejected that criticism, saying she had won the support of police chiefs for her anti-gun efforts and that all but one of her pro-gun votes were made as part of the majority.
''As a legislator Shannon voted for the assault weapons ban in Boston and won the support of police chiefs across the state for her efforts to keep guns out of the hands of felons,'' said O'Brien press secretary Adrian Durbin. ''The proposals she has put forth today show her commitment to making our streets safer, and in fact are more innovative and go farther than what many of her opponents have proposed.''
Yesterday, O'Brien also vowed to strengthen and fund community policing efforts, and after-school and summer programs for children. She proposed increasing the number of crimes for which those convicted have to provide DNA from 33 to all of the roughly 100 felonies.
She decried the huge backlog of DNA tests at the State Police Crime Lab, and vowed to find federal grant money and redirect state money to clearing it. O'Brien also proposed providing prisoners with better literacy- and work-training, and said the state should keep closer tabs on prisoners released into the community.
O'Brien said her proposals would probably cost about $10 million annually.
Her Democratic opponents criticized O'Brien's plan yesterday. Former state senator Warren Tolman said O'Brien should have challenged sentencing guidelines that he said filled prisons with nonviolent offenders and sapped state resources.
''We have more people incarcerated in Massachusetts than at any time in our history,'' Tolman said. ''Adding new inmates to the prisons will cost tens of millions of dollars I'd rather put to full-day kindergarten.''
All three of her Democratic rivals seized on O'Brien's legislative record on guns. That record during three terms in the House and one in the Senate was mixed: She has received high ratings from the Gun Owners' Action League for defending rights of hunters. She voted against bills requiring mandatory minimum jail sentences for carrying guns without a license, and a safety training program for gun owners, and she did not support a move to bring a statewide assault weapons ban to the floor for a vote.
''When she was in the Legislature, she was fairly understanding about the issue,'' said Michael Yacino, executive director of GOAL. ''She comes from the western part of the state, where they see firearms in a different light than in the city. She voted with us a number of times.''
But she also voted against gun owners' groups at other times, supporting an assault weapons ban in Boston in 1989, for example. Though a newspaper account at the time cited O'Brien's opposition to a similar statewide law, she said yesterday she now supports the statewide ban that eventually passed in 1998. That was not enough for her rivals, however.
''This is one of the reasons it'd be great to have an honest one-on-one debate,'' said Mark Longabaugh, campaign manager for former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich. ''We're really not clear where she stands on firearms.''
This story ran on page B3 of the Boston Globe on 8/6/2002.
c Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/218/metro/O_Brien_urges_improved_gun_control_policing+.shtml
"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
State to hold hearing next month on what areas to restrict
By Maureen Feighan / The Detroit News
SHELBY TOWNSHIP -- Bicycles, Frisbees and playing children aren't the only things legally allowed in Shelby Township's River Bends Park.
According to current state hunting restrictions, shooting deer with a firearm still is allowed in the sprawling park at Ryan Road in Shelby -- contrary to local ordinances that ban firearm hunting anywhere in the township.
But that could change as the Michigan Department of Natural Resources prepares to hold a public hearing next month on hunting in Shelby Township.
"I can't have people firing rifles in Shelby Township," Supervisor Ralph Maccarone said. "In more urbanized areas, I think the public safety aspect should take dominance over hunter rights."
Earlier this year, Shelby's board tried to update the township's hunting ordinance, restricting bow and arrow hunting to private property greater than three acres. However, the ordinance hit a snag when Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials said it's the state's job to regulate hunting.
Maccarone said he thought local officials weren't required to go through the state to amend local hunting restrictions after reading Michigan hunting statutes and talking to Department of Natural Resources employees.
"We got mixed signals," Maccarone said. Now, "we're looking for them just to confirm our ordinance. This is one of those murky, cross-jurisdictional areas."
State officials regulate hunting so guidelines and restrictions don't vary from place to place.
Several areas in Shelby Township restricted under local laws still are open to hunting under state guidelines. Besides Riverbends Park, land south of 24 Mile between M-53 and Hayes Road to 22 Mile still is open to shotgun hunting despite new subdivisions being built in the area. The area bounded by 25 Mile, 26 Mile, Jewel and Hayes also is open to shotgun hunting.
Maccarone believes local officials should have more say in regulating hunting in urban areas.
"It's just too hard (for state officials) to keep up with development," Maccarone said.
But if Shelby was developing quickly, state leaders say it was up to local officials to lobby the Natural Resources Department for further hunting restrictions.
Matt Leffler, an assistant attorney general who oversees the Department of Natural Resources, said under state law it's up to local communities to contact state authorities to lobby for more restrictions.
Once cities pass a resolution seeking more hunting restrictions, a public hearing is held and recommendations are made. Communities can either approve or deny state recommendations.
http://www.detnews.com/2002/macomb/0208/06/d05-554783.htm
You can reach Maureen Feighan at (586)468-2905 or mfeighan@detnews.com.
"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
by ANANDA SHOREY, AP Writer
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
With the Lincoln Memorial in the background, Brian LePage of the Hampton, Va., Police Division, right, comforts Becky Steger of Paducah, Ky., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001, at the completion of the Ride Against Violent Crime.
WASHINGTON (AP) - School shooting survivors from across the nation biked to the Lincoln Memorial to rally against gun violence on Tuesday, just before classes start in one of the most dangerous times of the school year.
"I think it's society," said Evan Todd, 18, who was wounded in the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado. "We stand here and say we need to solve the problem, but we don't understand that it's us causing it."
Politically mixed, group members said the nation needs reasonable gun-control laws, emphasis on family values at home and strong programs to help troubled kids in school.
The 190-mile journey from Hampton, Va., to Washington was organized by the Alliance for Justice, to coincide with the start of the school calendar.
Most school homicides happen at the beginning of semesters, mainly because of stress, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a study released last week.
One homicide happens for about every four days in February, one for about every six days in September. Homicides are least likely in December and June.
"We need to let people know that our kids are dying. Violence is everywhere," said the rally's organizer, Sandra McSweeney of Hampton, whose daughter was shot in March. "What a parent goes through - no words can explain."
Tears mixed with sweat, the 15 cyclers embraced in front of the Lincoln Memorial. They wore T-shirts saying "People Pedaling Peace ... Not Violence."
Among the group was Sabrina Steger from Paducah, Ky., whose daughter, Kayce, was killed during a school shooting in 1997.
"We are average families who have been thrown very suddenly into abnormal situations," she said. "I want to keep other families from seeing their daughter in a casket. Nothing ever looks the same or feels the same after that."
Students from Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore., where two students were killed and 25 were wounded in 1998, were also at the rally.
http://speakout.com/activism/apstories/10079-1.html
"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