US Senate Introduces Gun Show Loophole Legislation |
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An investigative report uncovered that a volunteer activist in the gun violence prevention movement was, in actuality, spying on the movement for more than ten years for the National Rifle Association. She spied on and betrayed victims of gun violence who were active in the movement, and the NRA paid her to do it. Brady President Paul Helmke wrote in his blog "When the National Rifle Association asks its members for their next contribution, they might want to disclose how much of that money will be spent to spy on gun violence victims and their families." » Click Here to read Paul Helmke's blog on this topic » Click Here to view ABC Good Morning America "Spy for Hire" » Click Here to read the full story at motherjones.com |
 MSNBC's Keith Olberman ranks "Mary McFate" as top contender for "World's Worst" for spying on gun violence victims and profiting from it. |
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The Gun Lobby Is Threatening School Safety |
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Armed students? Armed teachers? That is the gun lobby's response to the horrible massacres at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. Their "solution" is to give everyone a gun and start the crossfire. We disagree. We must stop gun lobby-supported legislation that would prohibit colleges and universities from barrying possession or use of firearms on campus. Only one state in the nation - Utah - has passed such a law. All other states have rejected tying the hands of campus administrators and security. If these laws were to pass, it would mean that students as young as 18-years-old could carry handguns with high-capacity magazines to class, or keep AK-47s in their dorm rooms. Such laws would have authorized the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University shooters to carry guns on campus. The gun lobby also wants to arm K-12 teachers. |
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The Gun Lobby Is Threatening School Safety |
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Armed students? Armed teachers? That is the gun lobby's response to the horrible massacres at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. Their "solution" is to give everyone a gun and start the crossfire. We disagree. We must stop gun lobby-supported legislation that would prohibit colleges and universities from barrying possession or use of firearms on campus. Only one state in the nation - Utah - has passed such a law. All other states have rejected tying the hands of campus administrators and security. If these laws were to pass, it would mean that students as young as 18-years-old could carry handguns with high-capacity magazines to class, or keep AK-47s in their dorm rooms. Such laws would have authorized the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University shooters to carry guns on campus. The gun lobby also wants to arm K-12 teachers. » State E-Alerts: Tell your Legislator to Take Action » Write a Letter to Your Editor: Here is how to get to started » Join Us: Find your local Million Mom March chapter |
TOLES ©2007 The Washington Post. Reprinted with permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved. |
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Do We Really Want Guns In K-12 Classrooms? |
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Even trained police officers, on average, hit their intended targets less than 20% of the time. We should not be turning our teachers into law enforcement officers. Arming teachers would likely make them the first targets in an attack, as the shooter always has the element of surprise. Shooters could also grab a teacher's firearm and use it to kill. This has often happened for trained police officers. More than 2,000 K-12 students are expelled each year for carrying guns to school. Do we really want armed teachers confronting them? What if a teacher shoots a student? |
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Assorted Crimes and Misdeeds by CCW Licensees |
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The gun lobby claims that only "law-abiding citizens" receive carrying-concealed weapons (CCW) licenses, and that because licensees are "law abiding," having more people carrying loaded, hidden firearms will make society safer. Both claims are patently false Moreover, scores of dangerous people have obtained CCW licenses and used their firearms in violent acts. Abusive husbands, mentally unstable individuals, disgruntled employees, people with a grudge, and people who are simply careless or uneducated about firearms safety can, and do, get CCW licenses, posing real dangers to their co-workers, families and communities. According to one official who processes CCW license applications, "I would hazard a fairly educated guess that better than 50 percent of the applicants have a criminal background of some kind... The only ones who get denied are the ones who have very current offenses or serious offenses." Moreover, college gun owners have been proven to me far more irresponsible than their non-gun-owning college peers. Two-thirds of college gun owners binge drink at least once a month. College gun owners are more likely than the average student to:
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